Fire Emblem: In Fate's Hands
by firedude
Summary: A reclusive oracle predicts Tellius' ruin at the hands of a mysterious shadow. Judah, a reincarnated hero, is tasked with defeating this new evil, but if he's to succeed he'll need the help of another whose already faced evil, an eccentric lady of blades.
1. Prologue: An Exile of Benevolence

**Firedude: **Hello everyone, I'm back with a new story. I'm trying my hand at the Tellius continent this time, a year after the events of Radiant Dawn. The beginning's a bit slow I know, so I ask you to bear with me and please feel free to review and provide criticisms or ask questions if you have any. Also you can technically skip the prologue since it just establishes some more background to the story, but I do encourage you read it. But for now, please read and enjoy.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Fire Emblem series or any of its characters.

**::::::::::**

**Prologue: Exile of Benevolence**

"Judah… do you know why we called you here today?" The tension hanging in the air was almost tangible and threatened to suffocate the young man. The chamber was relatively dark, but the vast number of candles lining the walls provided a dim light. Through the slight illumination, Judah could make out the five old priests who formed the temple's council of elders. Very rarely were people called into the elders' chambers, and it was either for something outstandingly good, or unspeakably bad. Judah could not possibly think of anything he had done recently to fit either category, so he thought it best to keep his mouth closed.

"Judah…" The elder to the inner left grumbled impatiently, stroking him grayed beard. Detecting the priest's growing irritation, youth clenched his teeth and shifted his footing as he considered options.

"Um… well…" Judah mumbled, not sure of what to say.

"Stop torturing the boy Beril. He couldn't possibly know the reasons for his summons." advised the elder to the far right, Adam. He too spoke with an underlying hint of frustration, albeit directed at his colleague instead of the feiry haired youth before them. Beril grunted disapprovingly and refrained from further comment. The elder in the middle, a hunched bald man, clearly the oldest of the five spoke up.

"I suppose Adam's right; no one could have possibly predicted this chain of events… Judah."

"Yes high priest Midian?" Judah replied, still worried about the situation, but realizing silence would get him nowhere.

"You have been summoned here today, because it's time for you to leave."

"…Leave?" Judah said with a drop of disbelief and an avalanche of astonishment. He was almost certain he knew what they meant, but he simply couldn't fathom why so suddenly. "Do you mean leave-?"

"Leave the temple of rebirth, yes." Cut off Hol, the elder to the far left, with a solemn nod. "We've debated long and hard about this, but we believe it is time for you to travel forth from the temple and follow your destiny." Judah stood there in silence as the weight of the elder's words sank in. He was being told to leave his home, where he had been born, raised, and lived for the past twenty years. Judah stared down at the floor as he tried to formulate the right words in his head.

"How do you feel?" Judah shook his head at Adam's question and raised his head up.

"Too many feelings to say… I have so many questions though."

"Such as?" High elder Midian questioned curiously.

"I suppose the biggest question I have is why now? The other rebirths left the temple when they were eighteen like mandated, yet I've been held back for two years. And now with no further warning I'm being banished? I see no reason why I should be released, what's changed since two years ago?"

"Our reasons are our own boy and don't you forget that! You will do as you're told and leave-."

"Beril! That's uncalled for!" Adam snapped venomously, causing them to lock glares for a moment until elder Wize cleared his throat. "Judah, have you forgotten what we do here in the temple of rebirth?"

"Of course I haven't."

"Then you know why you're being released." stated Adam. "We created you with the express purpose of benefiting the land of Tellius; performing acts that will better this world as a whole. What those are… that's for you to determine when you leave this place." Judah took a few steps to his side, head clearly still swimming with thought.

"But you've told me, repeatedly, that I wasn't ready. That I was not properly prepared to carry out my destiny. Please, I must know what has changed so suddenly." The elders exchanged glances for a moment before finally turning to Midian. The hunched high elder gave a nod of approval and cleared his throat.

"I'm afraid we can't tell you all the details of why young Judah… but we will tell you this. A great hero has left Tellius behind him with faith that the continent has finally settled into peace… I'm afraid such an assumption was in vain however."

"Vain? But that goes against everything I was taught in the past year! Treaties have been settled, slavery abolished, countries stabilized, benevolent and unambitious rulers on the thrones, it sounds as though it's the perfect formula for peace!" Judah claimed, becoming a little flustered with disbelief at the implications of the high elder's words. Hol raised a hand to calm Judah as he elaborated further.

"That may be so, but this threat doesn't originate from political squabbles. The oracle has noticed a shadow moving throughout Tellius for the past decade. Up until now it has been small, moving quietly, largely unnoticed by the world. But in the year since Ashera's defeat, this… blotch has grown more confident, building in strength. We fear it will soon grow too powerful, and threaten the much needed peace that has finally come to Tellius."

"It's that serious? Why haven't you sent other rebirths after it?" Judah asked with his curiosity piquing.

"As Hol said, up until now it hasn't been considered a major threat." Wize added, adjusting his glasses carefully. "Only recently has the oracle started to recognize it as a cause of worry, mostly due to the lack of face to this menace." Noticing the confusion on Judah's face, Adam quickly picked up after Wize.

"What Wize means, is that major threats to Tellius that had been forseen in the past were in positions of power, drawing the oracle to watch them more carefully and allow us a degree of preemption. However, this threat is from no noble lineage or political powerbase. She had no way of predicting that this would become such a prominent threat, much less the identity of this evil due to his or her secretive nature." Judah nodded slowly, understanding his mission better as it was explained.

"So you wish me to identify who or what this evil force is and stop it before it can throw Tellius into chaos? Not that I don't see the necessity of this mission, but I thought when I left the temple it was my job to carve my own path to good."

"And it still is." Hol corrected, "You may decide to pursue and stop this evil anyway you see fit. You may even decide when you leave here not to seek it out at all, but the oracle predicts sometime soon great power will be given to this shadow. This power will give the shadow the edge it needs to step out into the public eye and begin to eclipse Tellius. So even if you decide to avoid it, you will end up encountering it anyway. We simply figured you deserved fair warning." Judah nodding, the weight of this proposed mission finally clear to him in near full.

"I understand… if you truly believe that I will be best served combating this threat to our world, I will do whatever it takes to find and uproot this evil." Beril shook his head and hacked in bitterness.

"I still disagree with this decision. One ill prepared boy will not be enough to stop what is coming!" Judah felt his determination suddenly sap at the elder's outburst, but kept the sting masked, betraying no new expression. It was true that Beril had always treated Judah with disdain, but it had been Judah's destiny since rebirth to be sent out into the world and improve it. To be told on that day you had no hope to do so was surely crushing. Adam quickly jumped on his fellow priest as he had before.

"You were outvoted four to one Beril, and even the oracle herself approved of this course of action. You have no right to discourage him out of your bitterness!" Midian clenched his teeth and slammed a surprisingly powerful hand on the ground in anger.

"Enough of this! Beril, our decision will not be changed. Accept it and move on. Adam you've always stood up for the boy but now it's time for him to take control of his own fate. He needs to learn to stand up for himself and not have others fight his battles." The room marinated in silence for a few moments before Midian regained his composure and cleared his throat.

"Judah, I'm sure you've heard this hundreds of times by now, but as per our code we will now recite to you the five laws of rebirth. You are to follow these as if they were divine word and will never break them under any circumstances whatsoever." Midian looked down the line to Hol, who made eye contact and began.

"Hol's Law, you are to never reveal the existence of the temple or the concept of rebirth to anyone." He emphasized this with a finger held to his lips.

"Adam's Law, you are to never take an innocent life or stand idly by as one is snuffed out before you." The kindly Adam smiled, knowing for sure it'd be a law Judah would have no problem following.

"Beril's Law, you are to never return to the temple or attempt communication with either the priests or fellow rebirths." Judah scowled a little, noticing how Beril took a little bit too much joy in telling him that one.

"Wize's law, you are never to allow emotion to get in the way of the greater good." He said adjusting his glasses smartly, as if reflecting from experience.

"Midian's law, you are never to investigate who you were in your past life." The high elder stated firmly. Judah had heard these laws throughout his life and never questioned them, believing the elders knew best. However, the fifth one, Midian's law, always perplexed him. Judah couldn't even begin to comprehend how he would investigate his past life. The priests had always told him the new bodies that are created for the rebirths always look different from their previous lives. It mattered little though, for Judah had no interest in learning who he once was. Like all other rebirths, in his past life he was a person of great integrity and character and had led a life full of courage and heroism. As confidence boosting as it would be to know which hero he once was, knowing his past life would put even more pressure on him, raising the temple's already high expectations of him.

"You must abide by these laws and never compromise them. To do so will surely bring about ruination to your path of righteousness and forsake the destiny you were meant for. Do you have any protests?" Judah had many that were coming to mind, questions that had always floated around his mind about the five laws. However, the last thing he wanted to say now was the wrong thing, so opted to keep his mouth shut and simply shook his head.

"Excellent. You are to report to the front gate of the temple at sunset. Until then you have free range as always… May fate's hands guide you."

::::::::::

Judah sat quietly on his bed, the bed he had slept in all his life. With tomorrow he would never see it again. Come to think of it, in a few more hours he would never see his room again either. His room… Judah had always cursed his room. With no window it had always seemed a little too dark, a little too small, and a little too lonely. He had always looked forward to the day he would be released from the temple and could say good bye to this room for good. But now that the day had finally come, it seemed as though it was cozier than it ever was in twenty years.

The gray stones that made up the construction of his room were barely visible, due to the book shelves that lined the walls. When he was old enough to first begin serious studies, the priests had told him by the time he left the temple he'd read every single book. Judah was at first intimidated by the task, in utter disbelief by what they expected. Hundreds upon hundreds of books, but sure enough he had read every single one of them. Not by choice mind you (though Judah would admit there were a number of them he enjoyed), he had been tutored him all his life, preparing him for his eventual life beyond the temple. The books ranged from things as mundane as weather and culture to heavier topics such as politics and warfare. He was proud to have made such an accomplishment, and yet the accomplishment was bitter-sweet.

Judah had been told all his life that one day he'd have to leave. He never shied away from the idea, eager at the prospect of being destined for greatness; but deep down Judah had a fear of leaving his home. In fact, on his eighteenth birthday Judah was actually a bit relieved when the priests told him he wouldn't be leaving. It was initially drowned out by unshakable anger and thick confusion, but when he cooled down he felt a touch of relief nonetheless. Now the time was actually here, and surely he was excited, but it was being overshadowed by strong feelings of fear and confusion. He had trained as much as (if not more) than any of the other rebirths could have. Yet that sting of doubt sat uncomfortably at the back of his brain.

"Dammit." Judah grumbled and he collapsed his head into his hands, cursing the situation.

"You seemed stiff." Startled, Judah looked up to his open doorway, to see elder Adam standing before him. "It was very unlike you." Judah couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head.

"You know as well as anyone else if all the elders summon you it means something serious. I just couldn't stop myself from acting that way." Adam nodded in understanding with a chuckled of his own.

"Of course, of course I would have too if Beril had placed me on the spot like that." Adam sympathized. Judah shook his head at not just the recent memory of the weasel faced elder's tough treatment, but of a whole life of Beril's scrutiny.

"He hates me doesn't he? I always knew he was the reason I was held back… why though? I never did anything to him!" Adam sat in silence in the face of Judah's claim. He eventually cleared his throat and stepped into the room.

"It was a terrible injustice keeping you here two years ago. As much as I loathe that rat Beril and would like to place the blame squarely on him, it was a mix of factors that weren't entirely in anyone's control. You know better than to dwell on the past though Judah, the day you've been waiting for has finally come."

"But why? Why can't you tell me the true reasons why I was kept back? Did I not have above average marks on everything I did? I scored better than most of the other rebirths I ever trained with on the tests. If anything I was in line to leave the temple a year early… instead I had to wait two years. No matter what way you cut it, I was robbed." Adam frowned and placed a hand on his worried ward's shoulder.

"I'm sorry Judah, I really wish I could tell you, but unfortunately it's beyond my decision. You must not let it weigh on you now though. If anything take solace! You've had an extra two years to sharpen your skills. Moreover you've been trusted by the oracle to take on a monumental responsibility. So keep your chin up Judah, you'll need all the morale and determination you can muster for the enemy you're about to face." Judah's expression refused to change, despite his spirits feeling lifted by Adam's words, there was still something bothering him.

"My enemy… the shadow you mean right? That's something else I don't understand, the oracle is supposed to be all knowing right? Then why is she being so vague about this enemy? It's one thing to withhold information about why I was kept at the temple, but to give me a mission of such importance with so little details just seems… well it seems cruel." Adam took a seat beside Judah, groaning softly as the aches of his age took its toll on him.

Settling down, Adam responded, "The oracle is not a god, she is not perfect and with such her far sight has flaws. We can't figure out why this shadow in Tellius is weakening her clairvoyance and why she can't see its true identity. So don't fret, the oracle has not forsaken you."

"…It still all just seems so weird. There's absolutely nothing else the oracle can do to help me?"

"Well…" A smile began to spread across elder Adam's face. "Why don't we go ask her?"

"What!"

::::::::::

Judah and Adam stood outside a set of large silver doors in silence. Adam had offered the youth to open the doors and step through, but he had yet to make a move. Judah had passed by this door many times, admiring the absolutely beautiful designs that had been inscribed on it. To now be offered to finally pass through them and meet the oracle in person seemed tantamount to heresy.

"This… this doesn't feel right. Surely the oracle has more important things to do than waste time consulting a single rebirth." Judah turned and tried to start walking back down the corridor they came down, when Adam grabbed the collar of his robe to stop him.

"Relax; I don't want you being nervous like you were back in the elders' meeting. She's not going to bite off your head and no matter what you're leaving the temple today, so there's nothing bad that's going to happen." After a moment, Judah nodded and stepped up to the door. Without a word, he lowered his hand to the door knob and twisted it open slowly. When it clicked he pushed the door open and stepped into the large chamber.

Beautiful wouldn't even come close to describing the room. The chamber was huge, the stonework of the walls wrought with similar designs as the ones that had been on the door out front. The room wasn't dark, rather it basked in an ominous glow, but Judah was having trouble finding the source of the illumination. As they took a few steps further into the room he finally spotted it and was amazed. Situated in the center of the ceiling was a pond. Beneath the surface of the water, he spotted what appeared to be a large bright light shining down and providing the glow that lit the room. Judah could hardly believe the sight; gravity simply wouldn't allow such a feat to be possible.

"It's fascinating isn't it?" Adam asked with a smile as he too stared up at it. Judah nodded slowly, his mouth slightly agape at what surely was nothing short of a miracle. Adam tapped Judah's arm to get his attention and pulled a pebble out from his pocket. He motioned up towards the miraculous pond and offered the rock to him. "Go ahead, try it."

Judah looked down at the pebble and took it from Adam's open palm. He looked up at the strange sight and nodded. Taking a step, he threw the pebble straight up and watched to see the result. The rock broke the surface of the pond and rippled, confirming that it was in fact water. Part of Judah expected the pebble to drop back down seconds later and land on top of his head. However, the strange physics pulled the pebble into the light within the water and disappeared. "Wow." Judah commented in awe at the sight.

"Are you having fun boys?" A gentle voice asked from the back of the room. Both of them snapped their attention back down to find the source. Sitting in the rear of the room was who they had come to meet. Sitting in a big plush arm chair in the back of the room was a beautiful blonde with a slender body, hugged by a long white gown. Her skin was pale, much paler that Judah's light skin. Her eyes were covered by a white blindfold but even with her eyes blocked it was easy to tell that her face was very pretty. Last, and certainly not the least noticeable feature, was the large, silk pair of white wings that jutted from her back. The oracle was truly a sight to behold.

"Good evening Adam, young Judah."

"You… You remember me?" The oracle giggled in amusement at Judah's astonishment.

"Of course I do and my how much you've grown! Your voice has become so deep! Sometimes I forget how quickly time moves. It seems like just yesterday when I ran into you." Judah had only seen the oracle three times in his whole life, two of which were when she announced the occurrences of the Mad King's War and the goddess Ashera's awakening before the whole temple. There was one time though, when Judah was very young that he had run into the oracle up close. It was rare for the oracle to leave her chambers, but on that day she slipped out to inspect the rose gardens. Restless and bored, Judah had gotten away from his tutor that day and wandered into the rose gardens himself. There he had stumbled into the oracle; she had her blindfold off as she was looking over the roses. She was startled at first, but then she smiled warmly and picked the child up in her arms, carrying him back to his tutor. That day stuck out distinctly in his mind, not just because that was his first time meeting the oracle, but because no one had ever held him so, with such love and caring.

Judah smiled broadly, happy that she remembered him. "It's truly a pleasure to see you again ma'am." The oracle returned his grin with the warm smile that he remembered. Despite how happy the situation was however, two things were bugging Judah about the situation. One, the oracle didn't appear a day older than she was that day in the rose garden. It was strange that was nearly fifteen years ago, but then again there was a pond in the ceiling so there were clearly many things he didn't know about the seer. Two, the oracle had her blindfold on. Granted she never really removed it and that one time in the garden was a rare exception, but Judah wished he could see the beautiful green eyes that were hidden behind them once more.

"I'm sorry Judah that won't be possible. I must keep my blindfold on as much as possible to focus my far sight." The dark red haired rebirth blinked in shock and took a step back.

"Did… did you just read my mind?" The oracle chuckled again in amusement and nodded.

"One of the many gifts bestowed upon the heron clan, along with a long life of youth. Now Judah, I called you here for a very important reason." This new tidbit shocked him once more.

"You called me here?" Judah looked back at Adam who nodded.

"I didn't want to tell you since I figured you'd freeze up." Judah was about to respond when the oracle cut him off.

"We don't have much time; you'll be expected at the front of the temple in a matter of minutes. Judah, as I'm sure the other elders have told you by now, I've assigned you a grave responsibility. The shadow has remained a very minor occurrence, hidden for the past couple decades, but lately I've been plagued by visions of it gaining power, enough to destroy Tellius. What this shadow is and when it'll achieve this power… I'm afraid my far sight won't allow me to see, but one thing is clear, it must be stopped. Since the shadow has blocked my view of the future, I called you here hoping an individual prediction may provide us with more clues to help you on your path." The oracle motioned for Judah to step forward, he obliged willingly. "Kneel please". The young man dropped down onto one knee as she extended her hands and gently touched the sides of his head.

"Close your eyes and let us begin." Judah's eyes shut, Adam remained silent, and the oracle focused. After a few moments her lips began to move and mumble very softly. It was mostly inaudible, but the parts Judah had heard were melodious and pleasing. Eventually she fell silent once more and sighed. "It's as I feared."

"What is?" Judah asked, resisting the urge to open his eyes.

"Your path is fogged, which means you will surely encounter the shadow in your near future. I can make out some things though. …Dawn, I see Dawn… as well as Crimea… And then… followed… by a black fire… and a wing of white!" The oracle's grip suddenly tightened against the sides of Judah's head. A bead of sweat dropped down her forehead as she began to feel the physical strain of the process. "A mountain of blood… a giant of bone… a woman of red… a traitor freed… and then… the return…" The oracle trembled as her fingers began to slip down the sides of Judah's head. Adam peered in skepticism, having seen the oracle do predictions before and never seeing her move her hands in any of them. "A monster… foul mad man… cease! Hence you bring forth the void! How dare you-!" The oracle's fingers were about to clench around Judah's neck.

"My lady!" Adam yelled out, causing the oracle to snap out of her chance and pull away from Judah, horrified at what she was about to do.

"Oh my…" The oracle murmured as she rubbed her hands in worry. Judah's eyes were opened now and a look of puzzlement was on his face.

"Ma'am…? Are you okay?" The oracle smiled softly and nodded.

"Yes forgive me, the strain of the far sight is sometimes a little much for me… Do you remember my words?" Judah nodded. "Good, I'm sorry for them being so vague, but they will make sense in time…" Even though she was smiling, the oracle still appeared horribly shaken. Adam moved to her side with a look of worry.

"My lady, I think you need some rest." The oracle nodded in agreement with the elder's suggestion. She turned back to Judah and smiled.

"Judah, this may be the last time I see you. Good luck on your journey, I hope I was of some help. May fate's hands guide you."

"You were madam, I thank you. Please feel better." Judah quickly bowed and turned, walking back towards the door he came in. He stopped and looked over his shoulder. The oracle was lying back against her chair, whispering something to Adam. Judah took a moment to admire the ceiling pond once more before leaving the room behind him.

::::::::::

Following the oracle's séance, Judah had returned to his room and bundled up everything of importance into a pack. He felt embarrassed when he nearly left out his sword, he probably wouldn't make it too far in Tellius without protection. It was then that elders Hol and Wize appeared at his doorway. "It's time."

They led Judah through the temple to the front, pushing out the doors and into the courtyard. They were greeted by a loud cheer, and a bright sunset. As per tradition, all the priests and priestesses of the temple had gathered to see him off. Many of them he knew personally, and others he recognized, but there was not a single one who was a stranger to him. Scattered throughout the crowd were children of all ages, they were fellow rebirths who one day would have to leave the temple as well. Seeing them took Judah back, remembering the plenty of times he had seen off rebirths over the years. Judah had always wondered why the rebirths looked so somber when they left the temple; he remembered thinking how he'd walk out with a broad smile, head held high, and ready to save the world. But now that he was actually the one leaving, he had a better understanding of why the rebirths leaving the temple never looked particularly happy.

He was about to leave his home behind forever. All these faces, he'd never see again. Ever. All the priests who had tutored him over the years, all the other rebirths he had made friends with, the elders, the oracle, Adam who was the closest thing he had to a father, and if he was being honest he'd even miss Beril, if only a little. And even though he was about to go into the world and save millions of people, at that moment he couldn't find much reason to smile.

Once he reached the end of the temple walkway, Midian, Adam, and Beril were waiting for him. Each of the five elders bid good bye to Judah. Midian, Wiz and Hol offered Judah warm smiles, firm handshakes and a last few words of encouragement and advice. When it came to Beril, the handshake was rather limp and the only words he had for the rebirth was a curt, "Good luck." Last, and the hardest to say goodbye to, was Adam. He had been the closest thing to a father to Judah in the past twenty years, to never see him again was truly a blow to his heart. The Elder was quiet at first, extending a hand to Judah, giving him a tight grip. He then caught Judah off guard however, and pulled him into a tight hug. After a minute, he drew away from the snow haired young man with sadness in his eyes.

"Goodbye Judah. May you conquer the obstacles that lie ahead of you, and find true peace in Tellius."

"I promise I will… good bye." Judah quickly turned and walked out the front gate, in fear that a moment longer would unleash the tears that were building up behind his eyes. If he really needed to, he'd cry later, a tough road laid ahead for him. Even though he was trying to put the temple out of his mind, he'd always remember the eerie chanting of the temple's inhabitants that followed with him into the sunset, "May fate's hands guide you!"

::::::::::

**Firedude:** Hope you all enjoyed it, and if you didn't I promise it gets better! Anyway, please review if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. See you soon.


	2. From Dusk 'Til Dawn

**Firedude: **Though there was a prologue, it was optional so I'll officially call this the first chapter of the 'In Fate's Shadow' series, enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Fire Emblem series or any of its characters.

**Chapter 1: From Dusk 'til Dawn**

The rain started before the sun had even dropped below the horizon. It started out lightly, a mere sprinkle, but soon enough it picked up. Judah, a red haired youth in his twentieth year, had donned a black rain cloak, the water proof material stopping the rain from drenching his white robes. He had always respected the traditions of the temple of rebirth, but leaving the temple at sunset was one of the ones he didn't agree with. However, he did understand the practical purpose though. Leaving at sun down was supposed to serve as a rebirth's first test. He had been told by the elders that the nearest Crimean towns were Westward, and well over a day's walk and leaving at night fall only further increased the difficulty of the journey. If a rebirth wasn't savvy or skilled enough to survive a night or two in the woods, he had no business saving the world. It was a cruel test, but a necessary one unfortunately, Judah could think of too many rebirths he had known over the years who had grown conceded knowing they were destined for greatness, the night in the woods was surely meant to wise them up.

As dangerous as it sounded, with the threat of the elements along with the possibility of being attacked by wildlife or bandits, Judah knew it was certainly a doable task. A priest would leave the temple every so often to recruit more clergymen or tutors if they had need for them and they make it back… most of the time. He couldn't think about that though. Supposedly, the part of the forest near the temple was blessed by the oracle, making it so anyone not meant to find the temple, couldn't. For all Judah knew, the priests who never made it back were just simply banished from the temple, not being sent out to recruit.

There he went again though, thinking about it. Judah just had to stay focused, think about the task at hand. He had a small tent in his bag, but it'd surely be a hassle to set up, not to mention a tent in the middle of the woods might as well be a bulls-eye for a passing group of bandits. But then again, staying the night in something like a cave could accidentally be a bear or wolf's dwelling. Either route was risky, but the risks were of course rather unlikely, so either was better than staying out in the rain all night.

Stopping for a moment under the thin cover of a tree, Judah peered around into the nearby woods, looking for any spots suitable to set up for the night. "This is no good." Judah mumbled to himself through clenched teeth, there were no natural shelters to be seen, nor was there space between trees big enough for the tent. He continued farther down the path at a brisk pace, keeping his eyes moving from side to side, looking for any form of sanctuary.

The sight of a small shack up the road made Judah's heart skip with hope. The wall facing the road was missing and the faint glow of a fire could be seen from within, perhaps the inhabitants would be willing to shelter him for the night. As he drew closer though, he could tell something was off. There was a strange smell coming from it, and the tones of the voices within there didn't sound too friendly. Judah approached the lean-to slowly and peered around the edge to see who was inside.

Sitting inside around the fire built in the middle of the makeshift room were ten men who looked as though they hadn't bathed in days, if not weeks. Their hair looked withered and dirty, a couple of them had prematurely graying, matted beards. Their clothes were raggedy and when they laughed, he noticed the crooked, yellow teeth that lined their gums. The men had something cooking in a pan over the fire that smelled absolutely revolting. Judah couldn't tell what the mysterious stew was, but the pile of long sleek bones, the clothing in the corner, and the crude, bloody axes on their hips didn't make the answer seem very promising. The man sitting in the middle was going through a bag of gold coins, counting up how much they had collected from their unfortunate victim.

"Twenty three, twenty four, twenty… uh…" The man paused for a second taking a moment to scratch his chin.

"I think twenty five's next one, boss." The man with the coins backhanded the man who had made the comment and snarled, "I'm not stupid! I was just taking a second!"

After nearly a minute of labored counting, the boss grinned and held the bag up in front of his group. "Thirty eight gold coins." The man stated proudly as his men grunted and laughed in approval. The boss then tied the bag to his waist and stirred the stew a little. "Now boys remember to give thanks. That traveller was kind enough to give us all his money, so the least we can do is have him for dinner!" The men laughed heartily at the black humor as they began to scoop bowls of the gruesome concoction.

Judah staggered back, horrified at what he just witnessed. It was bad enough that the first people he met outside the temple were bandits, but cannibals too! An angry twist in the pit of his gut urged him on to get vengeance for the murdered innocent, but the odds weren't in his favor. Judah hadn't trained for two decades to be killed within hours of leaving the temple. Quietly, he crept around the back of the lean-to, continuing on the path without the brigands noticing. He was almost clear of the area when he heard one of the men call out loudly, "Man, do I gotta piss!" Judah looked over his shoulder just in time to see the man stumble out of the shack and happen to look in his direction. Judah froze in place, staring at the man, not entirely sure what to do. The dirty bandit grinned and chuckled before looking back in on his colleagues.

"Hey boss, we got another traveler out here, I think he's lost." After a moment, the nine other men filed out of the shack, including the leader who was easily a head taller than the rest of his men, along with a much bigger belly.

"Well, well, ya lost boy?" The leader asked, taking a couple steps towards the red haired youth. Judah took a step back and placed his hand on the straight sword he had hidden beneath his rain cloak. "No sir, I know exactly where I'm going. I didn't mean to interrupt your meal." The bandit leader laughed, his men following his lead, laughing like the groveling lackeys they were.

"Nonsense, how could we eat knowing there was a lost traveler on our doorstep? In fact, I insist you join us, 'round here we're known around here for our hospitality after all." The boss began walking closer to Judah, causing his heart rate to spike and take another step back.

"I'm grateful, but really I-."

"I wasn't asking boy." The leader growled as he reached out a meaty paw to grab Judah's cloak. The man never got his hand on him, in a grip of adrenaline fueled panic; Judah drew his sword and in one smooth motion sliced the fingers off the bandit leader's hand. He hadn't realized what he had done until the large man wailed out in and fell back onto his rear, clutching the bleeding stumps that were once his fingers.

"Boss! Are you alright!" Two of the bandits quickly jumped to the man's side to inspect the wounds. Judah didn't wait around to see if the man could muster up an answer. He sheathed his sword, and with his heart pounding like a bass drum, sprinted on through the rain.

"What are you waiting for! Go after him!" Judah cursed under his breath when he heard the command behind him. What appeared to have been a skilled act of swordsmanship was actually pure luck on his part, but he hoped it was enough to discourage them from chasing him. However, when he looked over his shoulder, sure enough he saw seven shapes trailing behind him, chipped hatchets drawn.

Judah wasn't sure how long he was running for, but eventually he came to a sharp turn in the path. The distance between them gave him enough time to run into the tree line and dive into the bushes without being seen. Heart still beating a billion beats a minute; he laid still and listened for his pursuers. As they came around the corner, they stopped, seeing that they had lost sight of him. One of them cursed loudly and threw his axe to the ground. "He couldn't have gone far, search for him!" They began to hurriedly, and violently tear through the nearby bushes looking for him. Judah held his breath when he heard one of them approach the bush with heavy footsteps. He looked up, waiting for the bandit to part the leaves and see him lying there. The bandit was about to reach into the bush, when the shrill cry of a wolf echoed through the trees.

"Ah damn, this guy's not worth dealing with the wolves over. Let's head back." The group of them quickly skittered back the way they came, groaning about how the boss wasn't going to like the news. Though under the new threat of possible wolves in the area, Judah took a moment to take some deep breaths and slow his heart rate. Once he felt it had stabilized, he cautiously slid out of the bush and looked around. There were luckily no wolves in sight, so Judah hurried off farther down the path before they decided to show themselves.

::::::::::

He ran with all his might, occasionally looking back over his shoulder to make sure the bandits hadn't changed their minds. Though he had not seen them, he heard crunching leaves and the heavy panting of animals in the woods around him, betraying the presence of the supposed wolves that stalked him. Judah didn't dare look, he pushed himself to keep going, not wanting to become a meal for the local wildlife. The running seemed to go on forever, Judah didn't know if he was running for only a minute or an hour, it all seemed to blur together in a rush of adrenaline. Finally he could hear the crunching and pants no longer, at which he stopped and leaned over onto his knees to catch his breath. "That was a close call." Judah grumbled as he wiped some mud from his cheek. He wasn't even a day out of the temple and already he had almost been killed and eaten by two different groups. A poor start, but he was still alive, which was a lot more than could be said for the bandits' poor victim.

Standing back up, Judah groaned as he realized the chase had allowed the rain to get under his cloak, making his clothes damp and cold.

"This sucks." He muttered out of bitterness and walked onward down the path. At least the rain had died down again to a drizzle, didn't help much since he was already soaked though. As he trudged on through the forest, Judah noticed a very strange sensation running through his body. He had every reason to be afraid right now, everything he had learned about the outside world was through books, news, and stories. He had never been on his own before like this outside the temple, and his first few hours of it had clearly turned out horrific; but for whatever reason… he felt fine, excited even.

Judah had been worried that life within the temple would not have properly prepared him for Tellius. Sure they had years to teach him everything he needed to know about the outside world in classrooms, but surely that was no substitute for real experience. Judah had been worried it would make him naïve to the point of incompetence and would get him killed, but he was glad to be wrong; he had easily recognized the danger and acted accordingly. Then again, it was nigh a day out of the temple, he could probably be killed in the next few minutes for all he knew. He would have to stay alert; he couldn't allow his guard to fall even for a second.

Just then Judah, being so lost in thought, walked straight off the path and into a tree. The self-imposed blow made Judah grunt in shock and he fell over right into a puddle of mud. After a second, Judah realized what had happened and turned bright red in embarrassment.

"So much for being on guard." The youth grumbled, shaking his head in disbelief of his carelessness. He pulled himself back up onto his feet and did his best to wipe away the dirt and grime from his robe and cloak. "At least no one was around to see that."

"Excuse me, are you alright?" Judah turned to see a young woman in a navy blue rain cloak standing a few yards away from him with a small lantern in hand. His face reddened once more, realizing that his mishap had in fact been seen.

"Oh, um, yes I'm fine, don't mind me. Just wasn't paying attention to where I was going." Judah answered with a nervous chuckle. The woman giggled in amusement.

"Well as long as you're alright I suppose." A surprised look suddenly crossed her face and she began to walk toward him. Judah, not sure as to how dangerous she was, took a couple steps backward. The woman stopped when she saw he was nervous.

"What's wrong?" she asked in puzzlement.

"I'm sorry, you seem nice, I just don't know if I can trust you." The girl nodded in understanding and pulled a red cloth from her sleeve. "I was only going to wipe your nose, you're bleeding you know."

Judah raised a hand to his upper lip and looked. Sure enough his fingertips were covered in a red film. He must've hit the tree harder than he realized.

"I'm not armed if that's what you're worried about." She said raising her hands up in front of her, showing that all she was holding was the cloth and the lantern. Judah still felt skeptical, but nonetheless took a few steps toward her. He may have felt untrusting following the encounter with the bandits, but he couldn't shun out all who offered him help. After a moment the woman closed the gap and raised the material to his nose. As she wiped away the blood, Judah couldn't help but notice the wonderful smell of the cloth. It reminded him of the rose gardens back at the temple.

"There you go." The women commented with a smile as she held the lantern up to make sure there was no more blood. Though partially obscured by the hood, he was able to make out the features of the right side of her face quite easily thanks to the light. Her eye was a deep violet that reminded him of a twilight sky, framed by her smooth milky skin a few locks of dark pink hair that fell loosely from the hood. After a few moments, Judah became aware he was staring and stammered out, "Oh, th-thank you. I appreciate it… what are you doing out here all by yourself anyway?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"True, but I asked first."

"Fair enough, I just delivered a letter to a merchant in Crimea a day or so ago, I'm on my way back to Daein to report to my employer. I was worried about reporting back by my deadline so I decided to risk traveling overnight."

"You're a courier?"

"Of sorts." The girl smiled as she shrugged the small pack slung over her shoulder. "Now then, what are YOU doing out here?" Judah knew he'd have to answer a question like this sooner or later. He couldn't tell this stranger that he was from a secret temple buried away in the mountains for many reasons, so he had prepared a story in his mind just after leaving the temple. He felt bad for lying to this woman after the kindness she showed him, but the temple's laws left him with no choice.

"I belong to a convent in Tanas. We support the temple through our vineyard, so we're trying to expand the sale of our wines. I'm on my way to Crimea to discuss trade with a potential partner. The same as you, I was worried about making it on time so I decided to push through the night."

"Look at the two of us. Both sent out on grunt work to foreign countries overnight in the rain for a pittance compared to what our bosses are making cozy at home in their beds."

"Agreed, I may be expected to be obedient and diligent in my work, but nothing in Ashera's teachings says anything about liking it." The two shared a brief laugh over this. Judah's laugh was a little more out of relief than amusement however. The woman did not appear to doubt him, nor had he given her any reason to, so Judah took some solace in the fact that he could at least lie efficiently.

After a moment of silence, the woman cleared her throat, "Anyway, it was nice meeting you, but I think I should keep moving before the rain starts back up again." She bent her knees in a half-curtsy and walked past Judah in the direction he came from.

"Hey wait! You don't want to go that way, it's dangerous."

"Really now? What's so dangerous about it?"

"I just came from that way, and got attacked by both bandits and wolves. I really think you should find another way." For whatever reason, the woman laughed at Judah's explanation. "What's so funny?"

"Funny? No, I'm sorry there isn't anything funny about that is there? I'm thankful for you telling me and I shall be watchful, but I'm sure I'll be alright. Besides, this is the only road through this forest, and it would take days to turn around and travel a new path." Judah was perplexed; he didn't understand why she walked so nonchalantly into danger, let alone laughed at it when she didn't appear to be carrying any weapons.

"Well, here I think you oughta take this." Judah pulled a small dagger from the side of his pack and handed it to her. "I know it's not much, but at least it's something to help you if you run into trouble. Just promise me you'll be careful?" A look of awe seemed to cross the woman's face for a second, but it was immediately masked by a smile.

"Thank you and I promise I'll be cautious. Take care." So, even with knowing the dangers that awaited her, the woman then turned and continued down the path.

"Can I at least know your name?" Judah called after her as she continued walking.

"I'm Rosa."

"That suits you well, my name's Judah." The name seemed to cause the woman to stop in her tracks. She slowly turned back to him with another warm smile.

"Judah… we shall meet again." And on that note, Rosa turned away and disappeared around the corner of the path. Judah was able to make out the flame of her lantern through the trees for a minute or so, but eventually she traveled too far down the path and the tree line became too thick, obscuring his view.

"Maybe Tellius isn't such a bad place after all." Judah reassured himself with a smile. Just as he said that though, the sky flashed with a lightning bolt and thunder cracked loudly soon after, followed by heavy rain starting back up again. "Ah Dammit!" Judah scorned as he continued running down the path, seeking shelter from the storm.

::::::::::

Judah had been running through the rain for a few minutes before fate took pity on him. The trail ran alongside a rock formation at one point, creating a small cave like shelter at its side. It wasn't much, probably only able to house two people, but it was enough to stave off the rain and give him a place to sleep for the night. Luckier still, whoever was the last person to use the small cave had left some extra pieces of fire wood. Using flint from his bag, Judah was able to quickly construct a campfire, illuminating his den as well as alleviating the cold that was gripping him. Judah removed his rain cloak and white robes and laid them both by the fire to dry. Sitting in an undershirt and shorts, he began to search through his pack.

"Damn it's just as I thought, the rain soaked right through." Luckily most things in the bag were water proof; even his books had been kept in a leather case inside. The spare change of clothes he packed had been soaked, but those would dry, and the loaf of bread he had packed had become soggy, so he had no choice but to throw it away. All in all Judah felt fortunate, he had quite a few mishaps so far, but he still had his life after all, which in the scheme of things was all that really mattered.

For many years, the oracle who resided at the temple had overlooked a small shadow she had foreseen brewing in Tellius; she had not seen it as a threat because it was very small and there were monsters like Ashnard and Lekain whose shadows were many folds larger than it. Like many of the other minor threats she predicted, she figured it would just wash away in the flood of the times… but now things had changed. The oracle has seen visions recently of the shadow growing to enormous size soon, bigger than the ones that surrounded even the Mad King. Unfortunately, something about this shadow was able to stifle her far sight and prevented her from seeing its identity. She and the elders sent Judah out into Tellius with the mission of seeking out this shadow's identity and stopping it. The best lead the oracle could give him was that the shadow would be somewhere in Crimea and that it would become a threat to Tellius very soon. With this bit of information, he had struck out into this new and strange land in order to hunt down a threat he wasn't entirely sure how to find other than through a few cryptic predictions. Everyone believed in him though, they all had faith he could do it. Heck, Judah was almost killed twice before even making it out of the forest, but it takes more than a group of bandits, wolves and a tree to bring down a hero after all.

A hero… that's wrong to say. He's the reincarnation of a hero yes, but not one himself. Judah was known as a rebirth, one who undergoes a special ritual when still in the womb to house the spirit of a deceased hero of old. His personality, attitude, beliefs, and values are all those of whoever he was in his past life. He was not permitted to know who he once was, that was only for the elders to know, but none-the-less he was raised by them with the intention of sending him back out into Tellius to do great acts of good. He was destined to become a hero, but he had no right to call himself that yet.

Judah's train of thought was suddenly shattered when his hand touched something unfamiliar in his backpack. "What the…?" He removed a small, polished, wooden box from his pack and looked it over with great scrutiny.

_I don't remember packing this._ He thought to himself as he eyed the bronze latch on the side. Thinking it over for a second, he decided to see what it was and popped the top open. Inside lay what appeared to be a black piece of ceramic. The shape of it was odd, curved slightly with a strange divot in the side. Next to it laid a small piece of parchment folded up to fit inside the case. Judah removed it and unfolded it slowly.

It was a letter from elder Adam.

_Dear Judah,_

_ I hope you're reading this note and didn't just throw it away or lose it. You might feel hurt that I had slipped this box into you pack without telling you, but it was for a good reason. The oracle saw certain things in your future that weren't safe to say out loud within the walls of the temple. It's difficult to elaborate on them now, you wouldn't understand, but we know what you must do. In her visions, the oracle saw a traitor in the temple, a traitor working in the shadow's name. She's not sure if what she saw was the present or the future, but this traitor may already be sapping information, or will soon be turned. I'll begin investigating and figure out a way to contact you if I make any progress, but you need to be conscious that this shadow may already know you're coming. Anyway there's something you must do in the meantime. Judah, I know you've been taught the five laws of the temple all your life: Hol's law: To never speak of either the temple or the rebirth ritual's existance, Adam's law: To never stand idly by while an injustice is carried out, Beril's law: You must never attempt to return or communicate with the temple or any other rebirths, Wize's law: You must never let emotion get in the way of the greater good, and Midian's law: You are to never seek out your past life. You've been taught to uphold and honor them, and absolutely never break them, but I'm sorry Judah, that's exactly what I must ask you to do. The oracle's clairvoyance allowed her to see a vague time line of things to come. What she saw was cloudy, but one thing she was sure of: in order to succeed in your mission, there will be times when you'll have to break the temple's laws. This especially pertains to the last law… you must investigate who you were in your past life. It may seem impossible now, but the opportunity will present itself to you in due time. When it comes, you can't be afraid to take it. That ceramic piece will play a role in it, keep it with you at all times, and whatever you do, don't lose it. I realize we're asking you to take on a heavy burden without much support, but I have faith in you. If anyone is capable of succeeding in this venture it's you. You can defeat the shadow, it won't be easy, but you can destroy it. Good luck Judah. May fate's hands guide you._

_-Elder Adam_

Judah folded the note back up and placed it back into the box. Without a sound, he laid down on the ground next to the fire and stared up at the stony cieling. The letter had left him stupefied. It was so much information to take in at once. There was a traitor in the temple? Everyone there he had known all his life, the thought that one of them would be trying to sabotage a mission of such importance to the temple horrified Judah. That wasn't the worst of it though; Elder Adam wanted him to forsake the temple's laws. The laws that he as an Elder helped to shape! He felt a sense of duty and commitment to the temple's ways, they had raised him from birth, how could he go against their teachings so suddenly? But then again, Adam had acted as a true parent for him, always there for him when he needed him. Adam seemed to know what he was talking about, and it wasn't like the other elders were making an effort to help Judah on this difficult task. So which did he do? Listen to Adam? Or the temple? The conflict churned in his stomach like rotten butter and made him feel sick.

He removed ceramic piece from the box and turned it over in his hand, examining it in the light of the fire. It looked rather ordinary, matt-black, a little rough in texture, and no bigger than the palm of Judah's hand. _Is this thing really so important?_ Judah felt his eyes getting heavy as he stared up at the piece. He let his arm drop and finally giving into the exhaustion of the day's events, allowed himself to fall asleep

::::::::::

It was the worst sleep Judah had gotten in his life. Not only was it the first time sleeping out of his bed from the temple, but it was the dirt of all places; not to mention his mind had wandered throughout the night, plaguing him with thoughts of Adam's letter, the bandits that had nearly taken his life, and of course the nearly impossible task of monumental importance that was still weighing down on him. He realized he was still clutching the ceramic piece, so he placed it back into the box and shut it.

Judah sat up with a groan and stared sheepishly out of the cave mouth and into the trees before him. The first rays of sunlight were just poking through the leaves, which combined with the morning dew, and the cool air and colors of an emerging spring created an ambiance that mystified Judah. He had seen many beautiful pictures, and the landscapes that could be seen from the temple were pretty impressive too. However, such delights as the early morning in the forest were things entirely new to him, a bittersweet realization on the outside world.

Grabbing an apple from his pack, Judah began to shuffle towards the entrance. The fire had gone out overnight and his robes were still a bit damp, so he had no choice but to emerge into the morning air in his shorts and undershirt; it didn't really bother him though, Judah had always liked the cold. He bit into the juicy sphere as he tapped a sandal adorned foot onto the damp dirt before him. "Hope it's not too muddy today…" Judah grumbled to himself as he raised the apple to his mouth for another bite.

The imposing edge of an axe against his throat halted his snack. Judah stood there in shock, his heart pounding quickly and loudly in his chest.

"Drop the apple." Judah obliged willingly and held his breath, hoping whoever his captor was, wasn't after his life. He noticed that the axe withdrew from his neck, only to feel the butt of the handle slam into the back of his head. Judah collapsed onto his hands and knees as pain radiated from the back of his skull. With clenched teeth, he waited for the throbbing to subside before trying to bring his chin up a bit.

"We had a hell of a night looking for you, you know that?" A foot connected with Judah's ribs, forcing a grunt from his throat and to further fall onto his elbows. Behind him, he heard more footsteps and rummaging through his pack back in the cave. A pair of feet approached and stopped right in front of him, prompting Judah to look up.

"Glad to see the woods didn't do you in boy, I wanted to make sure I reserved that satisfaction." The gelatinous bulge of the bandit leader's stomach hovered over Judah's head as he could hear the content sewn into his voice. The scarlet haired youth caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye of the bandaged mess of a hand that remained on the brigand's right wrist. Before Judah could respond, the bottom of the bandit leader's boot slammed into his cheek. The rebirth's head rocked back and stunned Judah for a few seconds. The grubby hand of the bandit leader grabbed the hair on the back of his head and pressed the youth's cheek to the dirt.

"You wronged us boy. We were just trying to help you out, show you some hospitality, and instead you pay us back with this!" The leader growled as he waved his disfigured hand in front of Judah's eyes. With that, the bandit slammed Judah's face into the ground and then planted a foot on his back.

"What does he have in there anyway?" The leader called back to the two of his men searching through Judah's pack, the other seven had spread out in the nearby.

"Not a lot boss. Some robes, books, a sword, a few coins… some weird piece of clay and a note…" The bandit took a second to try and read it but then threw it away in frustration. "Its times like these I wish I could read… anyway, it's looking like a pretty weak score." Judah breathed a small sigh of relief when no one else moved to try and read it; he could never forgive himself if he let monsters like these find out about the temple.

The leader chuckled quietly, "Doesn't even matter anymore. Just remember boys, so long as we have this, we'll be set for life!" The bandit leader pulled a red rock from his pocket and held it up to display to the rest of his crew. They all cheered in agreement, but from Judah's view he couldn't tell what it was on the rock that made them cheer.

Judah noticed the bandit boss wasn't paying attention at the moment; he seized the opportunity, took a risk, and hoped that fate was on his side. With a roar of fury and burst of strength, he flung his elbow behind him and slammed into his captor's shin. In a wail of pain, the boss stumbled back, allowing Judah to launch to his feet and follow up with a hook to the boss's jaw. Watching the fat lug fall back, he turned and saw that the bandits had surrounded him and were moving in. The nine thugs were little more than what they were, thugs, and Judah felt confident he could take enough of them down to scare off the rest… if he had his sword. However, his blade was lying on the ground in the cave behind his opponents who were equipped with menacingly crude axes. With just his fists, odds weren't looking good.

"Wait, wait!" Surprisingly, the boss raised an arm to halt his subordinates as he scrambled to his feet. The bandits, confused backed off Judah and allowed the boss forward. The fat cannibal raised a hand to his cheek and rubbed the spot he had been punched.

"I keep underestimating you kid. You're a lot stronger than you look, and you're not bad with a sword… how about we cut a deal?"

"A deal?" Judah asked while keeping his guard up.

"Normally we'd just kill chumps like you, but we had a stroke of good luck last night so I'm feeling generous." The bandit leader smiled as he tapped the pocket where he kept the red stone. "I don't know if you realize this, but I'm Boss Bagne." An awkward silence followed, as if he expected Judah to gasp in realization and fall to his knees.

"Never heard of you." Judah stated bluntly, a fact that seemed to shock the bandits.

"What! Are you stupid! Everyone knows that we-!" Bagne calmed himself down, trying not to let his composure collapse. "Well then you must not be from around here. Anyway, my boys and I, we rule this forest, and soon enough we'll rule the nearby villages too. And though my boys are good enough to handle anything that comes our way, we're always looking to expand. See, you're not bad, and it'd be a shame to waste potential talent like this. So why don't you join us? We're gonna be-." Bagne continued droning on, and Judah saw his lips moving, but all he heard was bullshit. There was no way he'd agree to join this wretched lot.

"I refuse." Judah stated flatly, cutting off Bagne. A look of shock spread across the bandit leader's face as he blinked in disbelief.

"Are you kidding! We're an exclusive group, and there is plenty out there who'd kill to join Bagne's bandits!"

"Well I'm not one of that plenty, I refuse." Bagne scowled and the bandits looked back and forth between each other, just as confused as their boss was.

"Fine… fine you don't wish to join us, but you still owe us for the damage you caused!" Bagne bellowed as he waved his mutilated hand in the air. After a moment, a sly grin spread across the bandit's face.

"How about you let us have your hand. We cut your right hand off and we'll call it even. And then you can go on your way to wherever you're headed. Come on, repentance in the honorable thing to do." Judah raised an eyebrow at Bagne's proposal.

"You must think I'm stupid, eh? Wait; actually that's not it, is it? You're just afraid to fight me." A shocked expression shot to the bandit leader's face, as the bandits looked at their boss in confusion.

"You're hoping I'd accept to your ridiculous offer and cut off my hand, then I'll be weakened and you'll have an easier time of fighting me. You're afraid that I'm too good, I already caught you off guard twice after all, and you don't want to risk fighting me and losing some of your men, or worse your life. And honor? Never use that word again as long as you live, you know no such thing. For when you get down to it, you're nothing but cowardly scum! I'd rather take my chances with taking you all on than make any sort of deal!" Judah was not sure what it was that made him feel so invigorated and say something so foolhardy, but it made him feel empowered; better yet, it made Bagne's face turn bright red in anger and embarrassment.

"You little piss! How dare you insult me! Look around! You're outnumbered with no weapon! There's no way you can escape! I was trying to give you an easy way out, but now I'm going to kill you! And trust me, it'll be nice and slow!"

Judah couldn't help but feel a small smile tug at his lips as he replied, "Slow? Yeah it probably would take a while for someone as dim as you to figure out how to kill someone." Bagne's face had turned dark red and he was seething with anger.

"That's it! Make him hurt!" The bandits were about to charge in and Judah braced himself for the surely brutal and one sided fight about to ensue.

"Hold it!" The group all stopped short at the loud and imposing command that came from down the path. Both the bandits and Judah looked over to see a new figure walking towards them. The new comer was a woman, thin, young, with long, flowing purple hair. A white cloth was tied up in her hair and the orange coat she wore was slim fitting and came down into a short skirt. At her hip hung a pair of swords, clean and clearly well cared for.

"All of you ganging up on one defenseless traveler? How despicable, you're even more evil than I thought you'd be! I'm afraid I can't allow that." She thrust a challenging finger towards the bandits as she rested a hand on her swords.

"Boss bandit Bagne! I'm here to duel you! Accept my challenge, cur!"

::::::::::

**Firedude:** Hope you all enjoyed it, please review if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. Stay put for chapter 2, Mia gets to show off her skills!


	3. Duel at Dawn

**Chapter 2: Duel at Dawn**

"Boss bandit Bagne! I'm here to duel you! Accept my challenge, cur!" The girl with purple hair demanded as she thrust a finger at the bandit leader. An awkward silence hung in the air, Judah and the bandits confused about the arrival of this mysterious new challenger.

"Uh, who are you?" One of the bandits called over, Judah had felt equally tempted to ask the same question, but he was too busy scanning the bandits for a weak spot in their barricade. He had no idea who this woman was or if in fact she could even fight, but if she was willing to take on Bagne, he would gladly ally with her.

"Oh! How rude of me!" The girl placed her hands on her hips and puffed her chest out in pride. "I'm the great swordswoman Mia, and you will have the privilege of dueling me today! I really only came here to duel your boss, but I'm in a good mood since its dawn so I'll take each of you on if you'd like!" Mia then looked to the rising sun with a content smile as she began to stretch out her arms and legs. The bandits were still gripped in confusion. Judah meanwhile, distracted from his current predicament, began to wander through his thoughts. _Mia… where have I heard that name before?_

"Who the hell is this weird girl?" One of the bandits whispered to his ally beside him.

"Hell if I know, but weird is an understatement, she's downright loony."

"Wait a minute," one of the bandits exclaimed, drawing the attention of the others. "I think I've heard of his woman! She said her name was Mia right? I heard of a Mia traveling around Tellius, challenging skilled warriors to duels and never losing a single one! They call her the 'Aspiring Lady of the Blades' if I remember right. She's the real deal boss, I'd be careful."

Bagne clenched his teeth in anger and looked between Judah and the woman Mia. "Of course you'd be careful, you're not me. I'll deal with this! Watch him! Don't lay a finger on him until I say so! I want to reserve the satisfaction of first blood for myself!" The bandits nodded and maintained their tight formation, keeping a cautious eye on Judah, while still glancing over at the girl. Bagne trudged a few feet down the path and glared at Mia in a mix of anger and curiosity.

"So let me get this straight, you said you wanted to duel me?"

"That's right. I heard you were strong." Mia replied as she finished rolling her shoulders to warm up the joints. "I haven't had a duel in a while, so it sounded as if you'd be a good foe."

"Well girl you heard right, I am strong, the strongest around here in fact." Judah couldn't help but notice that Bagne was hiding his bandaged hand behind his back. He must not have wanted Mia to know he was injured so badly and look weak. "And you surely must know of my reputation for ruthlessness and that I would have a crew backing me. But you're telling me you still came all the way out here on your own to take me on?"

"Yup, you got a decent bounty on your head after all. So I figured I could get in a challenging duel, AND save people from an evil bandit. I'd heard about how you've been harassing the people from around these parts, like that half-naked man over there."

Mia then stretched up onto her toes and waved an arm over her head. "Hold on! I'm coming to help you!" Judah waved back hesitantly; he didn't know whether to feel relieved or afraid. This swordswoman, despite her apparent reputation and willingness to help, seemed volatile to say the least. He didn't know her, and therefore didn't know what her true intentions were. For all he knew, she was just as liable to turn on him once the bandits had been rid of and rob him blind. However, Judah had to handle one problem at a time, and the bandits were most certainly the first and foremost issue.

"Well how noble of you, but I ain't duelin' ya, so why don't you just turn tail and head back down that path." Mia's mouth tugged down into a frown and her shoulders slumped a little in disappointment.

"That's too bad, I was really looking forward to a duel today... but I still can't walk away, I'd never be able to face boss again knowing I let someone be killed by some fatty like you!" The weight insult made Bagne redden and caused Judah to chuckle. He wasn't sure if agitating the bandit leader was the best course of action, but now he was sure that this Mia meant well and that he could trust her. Her words had reminded him of Adam's law; anyone who would put themselves on the line to save another was alright in his book. It was just a matter now on whether or not she could actually beat Bagne and his men.

"You must be stupid!" Bagne bellowed in anger at the lady of the blades. "I'm not the kind of man you want to piss off! I've chopped apart men twice your size! And don't you see you're outnumbered? Not only that, but we've got a hostage! You have no advantage!" Judah could tell what he was doing; it was similar to what he had tried with him. Bagne was worried. Now he didn't only have to deal with Judah, but now Mia too. He must have hoped merely turning down the duel would shoo her away, but she apparently had no intention of doing that, so he resorted to intimidating her. "Can't you tell these odds are terrible!"

"You're right…" Mia stated with a straight expression. Judah's heart dropped, he thought for a moment that she was planning on giving up. In that case, he could kiss his chances of support, and probably his life good-bye.

"There should be at least three times as many of you to give me a challenge." Mia grinned as she drew one of her swords from her hip. Bagne growled in frustration and snapped at a few of his cohorts. "Deal with her quick so we can get back to focusing on the red-haired asshole."

Three of the bandits nodded and began to move in on Mia, the others filling in the perimeter around Judah carefully. Because there were less of them, the spaces between each of the men had become bigger. All that was left was for them to put their guard down and he could break through. If he could get to his sword, he'd be a much bigger help to Mia than he was now. Meanwhile, she took a solid stance, ready as the three bandits stood their ground a few yards from her, with their axes drawn.

"This sucks, why do we have to fight her? She's supposed to be pretty good isn't she?" One of the men grumbled, refusing to be the first to assault Mia.

"Because the boss said so, and I'd rather take my chances with her then get axed and eaten." The second bandit whispered as the first quickly nodded in agreement.

"Aw, would you listen to yourselves? Who cares!" The third exclaimed impatiently as he began to advance on Mia.

"Cativo, wait!" The second shouted after him, but he wouldn't stop.

"I'll have this over quick!" With an overhand cleave he brought the axe down towards Mia's head. For a moment it looked as if he'd hit her, but Mia suddenly moved to his side and slammed the butt of her sword's handle into Cativo's ribs.

"Oof!" The grunt exclaimed as he stumbled off to the side. "Lucky shot! I was just warming up!" The bandit claimed as he rubbed the spot where he was hit. Cativo charged once more with a similar result, this time Mia tapped his ear, causing him to yelp in shock.

"Are you done warming up yet?" Mia teased with a sly smile and a tapping foot. With a growl of frustration and a yell of effort, the bandit began to wildly swing his axe at Mia. As the battle unfolded, Judah watched in awe as Mia effortlessly evaded every single blow. _That's amazing! _Judah thought to himself. _She looks so relaxed, yet she dodges so quickly! _Occasionally, the swordswoman would tap various spots on Cativo with the flat side of her blade, causing the bandit to get more agitated. Everyone, probably even Cativo, recognized that she could've killed him twenty times over by now.

"Cativo! Back off man she's too fast!

"Damn it, would you shut up! She's just a woman, there's no way she could beat a man-." A flash iron in the morning sunlight robbed him of the last words he would ever speak. Dropping his axe, he stepped back gasping and gurgling as he clutched his throat, blood seeping through his fingers. Mia was now standing in a more threatening stance and the tip of her blade was slick with a crimson film.

"What was that last part?" Mia scolded as she pointed her blade at the now kneeling bandit. The chauvinistic bandit tried to gurgle a response, but then collapsed on the ground. A more serious expression had spread across Mia's features now. "I was going to just wait for you tire out and let you go, but saying something so ignorant can't be excused." A fierce determination had struck up in the swordswoman's eyes, staring daggers down into the pitiful man.

"Cativo! Damn you!" In a fit of rage, the two other bandits charged in recklessly, swinging their axes hoping to find purchase. Mia stood her ground until the last second, gracefully sliding under their swings and awarding their effort with a few deft cuts to the ribs. The two bandits spilled over in agonizing screams beside the now unconscious Cativo.

"Who's next?" Mia questioned, pointing her sword to the group of bandits before her. Judah, like the rest of his captors, was frozen in place with shock at swift defeats that had been doled out by the swordswoman. He probably would've remained in the shocked state for a while longer if epiphany hadn't struck him like a ton of bricks. _Now is the time!_ Judah realized, seeing that the bandits surrounding him were lost in what had just happened. Taking a chance, Judah made a break for the side and shouldered his way through one of the bandits. Trampling the man he had just knocked over, Judah sprinted toward the cave mouth. He heard Bagne yell something, but the adrenaline pumping through him muffled the bandit leader's words. Judah dove and wrapped a hand around his sword sheath. Spinning back up onto his feet he turned in time to see two of the bandits charging at him, closing the distance quickly.

Judah, still fueled by the adrenaline rush, drew his sword and readied himself. As they entered his range, he reacted how he was taught. Just as Elder Adam had shown him, he stepped forward into the first bandit's charge and slashed at his right wrist, causing the axe to fly from his hand. Then with a quick step to the right, Judah blocked the next bandit's right arm with his free hand and followed up with a quick slice to his ankle. Both of the bandits tumbled over in gasps and grunts of pain as they clutched their wounded appendages, the deep gashes in them spilling scarlet swiftly. Judah had honestly shocked himself. Like his social skills, Judah was afraid they'd fail him out in the world; that he'd freeze up when faced with an opponent seriously trying to kill him, but all that practice had paid off. In truth though, he had always been proficient with swords, but whether it was his own natural talent or thanks to experience from his past life was unclear. Judah wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth though, so he never questioned it too much.

Turning from his sprawling enemies, he spotted Mia who now had another two wounded bandits lying at her feet. Bagne was shaking now, beads of sweat falling down the sides of his head. The last two of his men weren't faring much better either, they had turned green and looked as if the slightest gust of wind would knock them over.

"W-What are you two waiting for! Get in there!" Bagne stammered out, motioning for his men to move in. Hurried footsteps followed soon after, but the bandit boss noticed they were moving away from him.

"Sorry boss, but you're on your own! We quit!" One of his men yelled over his shoulder before disappearing around a bend down the trail with the second bandit beside him. At this, the rest of the bandits, wounded as they were, struggled up onto their feet and scattered frantically into the forest in all different directions. Some of them called out derogatory things, both towards Judah and Mia as well as Bagne himself. That was of course all except Cativo, who'd never be able to speak again. The bandit boss couldn't help but feel his jaw fall open and leave his mouth agape. He turned slowly back, to see that Mia was up close with the tip of her sword pointed in his face.

"Don't bother trying to run away, I got you now! Draw your axe and accept my challenge!" The fat bandit's lips moved desperately, trying to find the right words to say. However, as much as he tried he could not find them, or at least had trouble pronouncing them properly. Finally, the coward's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell over onto his back, fainted.

Mia stood there stunned, blinking and looking down at Bagne. "What? That's it!" Mia exclaimed disappointedly before stomping up to Bagne's unconscious form and sighing. "I left the village at night and came all the way out here hoping for an epic duel at dawn with an evil bandit leader! I fight his goons and when I finally get to him, he passes out! Ugh!" She groaned in frustration, sliding down onto her knees in defeat. "No one ever wants to duel."

"Hey uh… I know you're having a moment, but I just wanted to say thank you for saving me." Mia jumped a little at the sound of Judah's voice, turning to see him standing behind her. While she had been preoccupied with yelling at the incapacitated bandit, Judah had returned to his cave and slipped his white robe back on. "I was in a real tight situation back there and it could've ended a lot worse if-." Judah's voice trailed off when he noticed Mia was staring at him intently with stars in her eyes. "Hey, are you alright?" Judah questioned nervously.

"Draw your sword!" Mia exclaimed as she jumped up onto her feet and drew her own with a broad grin.

"W-What!" Judah stammered, taking a step back from her. "Hold on a minute miss, I thought you weren't here to fight me?"

"I wasn't, but then I recognized you with that robe on." The rebirth's heart dropped at Mia's words.

_Oh no… does she know I'm really from the temple! She must be an agent of the shadow! She didn't really come out here to duel that bandit, she came here to find and kill me. Of course! Why would anyone go so far out of their way just to duel a bandit for goodness sakes!_ Judah's hand slowly hovered over his blade handle as he took another step back. _But if she really is working for the shadow, I may be in deep trouble. She's really good with a sword, way better than me. It's going to take a miracle for me to win._

"Before we do this though I want to know… who sent you to kill me?" Judah asked in a dark tone and a serious scowl as he began to draw his sword.

"Kill you? Why would I want to do that?" Mia asked with a quizzical expression. The rebirth stopped unsheathing his sword and tilted his head in his own confusion.

"Um… to stop your boss' plans to take over Tellius?"

"What?" Mia asked, now in deeper confusion. She broke her stance and stood up, scratching her heard with a free hand as she thought about it. "Well gee, I mean I haven't seen Ike in about a year, but I don't think he'd ever do something like that." Judah's eyes widened at the name and he stopped drawing his sword.

"Wait, did you just say Ike? As in the Greil mercenaries Ike!"

"Yeah that's right! You've heard of them?"

"Heard of them! They saved Tellius! Twice!" Judah relaxed and stood up from his stance, knowing this had to be some kind of misunderstanding. "I knew I recognized your name from somewhere when I heard it, you're Mia of the Greil mercenaries!" Judah had learned all about them from the tutors at the temple. Since their recent rise to hero status, they became role models to rebirths at the temple, and the younger children always pined to hear stories about them.

"Correction, formerly of the Greil mercenaries, I left after Ashera was defeated for various reasons. Now I'm just Mia the swordswoman, looking to sharpen my skills against whomever I can. And today that'll be you! Now c'mon let's duel already!" Mia exclaimed as she dropped back down into a stance.

"Wait, duel? So you weren't sent here to kill me?" Judah asked, still unsure what was going on.

"For the second time, no! I'm here to duel you because you're my arch-rival!"

"…Arch-rival? How do you figure that?"

"You're wearing white robes!" Judah looked down at his outfit and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm your rival because I'm wearing white robes?"

"That's right! Years ago I got a reading from a fortune teller. She told me 'With white robes flowing in the breeze, your archrival rides toward you...'you've got white robes, a sword, and you've got that courageous look in your eyes! It's gotta be you!"

_So that's what she meant when she said she recognized me. The bandits were right, this girl's nuts!_ Judah scratched the side of his head. "Listen I think you've got the wrong guy. Besides, didn't the fortune say the warrior would **ride** towards you? Doesn't that mean he'd be mounted?" Mia blinked at the thought and sighed.

"Oh yeah I keep forgetting about that. If only Rhys just listened to me and learned to ride a horse this search would be over by now." Mia mumbled as she sheathed her sword. "Well sorry for the mistake. So what do you want to do about him?" Mia asked motioning towards the still unconscious Bagne. "It seems like you got put through a lot more trouble than me. You want to turn him in?"

"No, no I didn't come out here for his bounty. You rescued me anyway, so I insist you take him." Judah responded, not wanted to get close to the cannibal bastard again anyway, even with how harmless he looked now. Mia nodded in acceptance and began to tie his wrists up behind his back with a rope she had brought.

"So what are you doing out here anyway? You said people were being sent to kill you?" Judah had just backed himself into a hole; he couldn't rightly explain to this girl that he was from a clandestine temple in the mountains that trained reborn heroes and he was hunting down an evil being before it took over all of Tellius. Then again, Elder Adam had given him the go ahead to break the temple's laws, but it still didn't feel right to him, so he opted to lie for now.

"I'm from a convent in Tanas. I'm on my way to Crimea to negotiate with a trading partner for the wines we sell. We suspected that there were rival merchants who were trying to stop our sales so they could take our trading partners. I thought you were an assassin sent by them." Judah was worried the explanation was too thin, that she could poke holes in it if she really questioned. Mia finished tying the knot in Bagne's restraints and stood up.

"Hmm…" She hummed as she turned back towards Judah and looked at him with sly eyes. Judah felt a drop of sweat slide down his temple, but kept a straight poker face despite it. "That sucks! I can't believe people would attack a monk just to make a buck!" Mia said shaking her head in disgust. As she turned back around to pull Bagne up next to a tree, Judah breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well if you're looking for protection, I need to turn this guy in at the village up the trail." Mia turned back to Judah and grinned with her hand resting on the hilts of one of her swords. "If you're heading that way, why don't we travel together!"

"What? Are you sure? I just told you that I'm a marked man; it could be dangerous staying with me." Though Judah had lied about his story, it was definitely true that he was being hunted. He may not know the identity of this shadow, but if it had one agent in the temple, then surely it had more subordinates seeking him out.

"Great! That's what I'm hoping! So what do you say!" Mia asked offering a hand to the ginger haired rebirth.

Judah had no reason not to. The swordswoman was an ally who had proven her worth and was offering to help him on the road ahead. Sure she was a bit eccentric… okay very eccentric, but Mia had been all over Tellius so surely her knowledge of the land and contacts she had made would be a big help to Judah, even if it was only for a little while. Another thing that prodded at the back of his mind was the oracle's séance. The first word that came from her mouth when she began the prediction was 'Dawn'; Judah saw it as no coincidence that his first ally was someone with an obsession for it. He could be wrong after all, but he followed the words of the temple, 'May fate's hands guide you'. If fate saw fit to pair him with this swordswoman, then so be it.

"Of course, thank you for the assistance Mia, Aspiring Lady of the Blades." Judah replied, clasping her hand.

"And you're welcome mister-."

"Judah, my name's Judah."

"Judah? Just Judah? Not Judah of the swift sword? Judah the fierce wolf? Judah the-."

"No. Judah."

"Ugh, well that's boring." Mia grumbled, folding her arms in thought. "Well we're going to have to establish a name for you then… for now you can be…" A smile of realization shot across her face. "Judah the White!"

"The white?" Judah asked in confusion as he scratched the side of his head. "Wouldn't it make more sense for it to be 'the Red'? I mean my hair is-."

"I'm not talking about your hair though! You're Judah the white because of your robes. I'm still not entirely convinced you're not my rival, so the name will make sure you won't forget I'm watching you, got it?" With an amused laugh she trotted over to Bagne's unconscious form to see if she could rouse him from sleep.

"Good to know." Judah grumbled to himself with a sigh, beginning to think maybe it had been a mistake to tag along with the girl. "So what do we do about him?" Judah asked looking at the pitiful form of the bandit leader.

"Well he hasn't woken up yet… I guess we'll just have to carry him!"

"Ugh… This is going to be a long trip."

::::::::::

**Firedude:** And there you have it. This marks the start of Mia and Judah's travels. What awaits them? Find out in the next chapter, On a White Wing. Please review!


	4. On a White Wing

**Firedude:** Hello everyone, thank you Gunlord500 and MilleniaMaster for being my first reviewers. I'm glad both Mia and Judah have gone over well so far, it's hard enough to get the personalities of preexisting characters right, but to introduce a new character altogether that fits in can go horribly wrong as well. Anyway, thank you for the support, enjoy!

::::::::::

**Chapter 3: On a White Wing**

"Yahoo! We're here!" Mia yelled with a smile as she stood at the entrance to the town in triumph. "Come on slow-poke! Aren't you happy we're finally out!" Judah was still a few good yards behind Mia, grunting as he dragged the bandit Bagne's unconscious form on a makeshift sled he had made out of some branches, a rope, and a spare sheet he had in his pack.

"Of course I am, it's just a little hard to jump up and down when you're getting weighed down by this fat lard." Judah grumbled as he peered over his shoulder at the still knocked out bandit. It was nearly mid-day now; Bagne had been out for hours and showed no signs of waking up yet. He was beginning to think that he had woken up a while ago and was now just pretending to still be out so he wouldn't have to walk.

"Are you really having so much trouble with him? I'd think my rival would be stronger than that." Mia teased with an amused grin.

"Oh please it feels like he weighs a ton! I'd like to see you do this on your own!" The two of them had dragged the sled together through the woods; When Mia saw the town through the trees she had run ahead, leaving Judah to follow on his own. It was a workout to say the least. Finally out of the woods and standing at the town's entrance, he dropped his rope and collapsed onto his knees with a heavy sigh. "I don't think even pack mules are worked that hard."

"Come on it wasn't that bad. I didn't even break a sweat!"

"Yeah, but you didn't have to do the last leg on your own." Judah mumbled under his breath. After catching some air, the red haired rebirth rose back onto his feet and looked around. Judah had never seen a village before, but it was what he had expected a rural town to look like. A wooden sign in the ground by the entrance marked the village as "Ballom". Townspeople passing by were dressed in simple clothing and content expressions; fields and cattle pens could be spotted in the distance and tall bundles of hay were stacked alongside them. The houses were small and made of dull gray brick, but there were many of them and they appeared well maintained. The village certainly did not appear to be thriving, but they all appeared to be doing well enough and were happy with it.

"Alright! Let's get rid of this fatty!" Mia called out gleefully as she picked up her rope for the sled. "This time I won't run out on you, but you can't slack!" Judah nodded and picked up his rope. "Alright… One, two, three!" together they began to pull the sled, drawing the curious stares of the nearby villagers as they approached the village center.

::::::::::

Though the village was rather large for a farming town, it didn't take too long to reach the center. The town square wasn't overly impressive, it was actually just how it sounded, a square. Like the roads in the town, the floor of the square was dirt with building situated around the edge. Many farmers and merchants met here to discuss business. A series of large chalk boards were set up on the far side of the square to allow them an easier time of calculating trade. It wasn't all business though, several house wives gathered on benches to talk and gossip while children ran through the open area playing tag. With a sigh of relief, Judah eased down onto a wooden bench and dropped his rope; glad he no longer had to worry about hauling the fat bandit around.

"Praise be to the fates, my legs need a rest." Judah murmured to himself as he rubbed his thighs.

"Come on it wasn't so bad!" Mia exclaimed with a grin, still standing tall beside the bench, she barely had broken a sweat.

"You're crazy, there's no way all that didn't make you tired." Judah didn't want to admit it, but he knew she wasn't kidding. He could tell while they were pulling the sled that she was not only a lot stronger than she looked, but she seemed to have an endless well of energy.

"Hmm, nope! I feel great in fact!" Mia said sitting down next to Judah as she took a sip of a canteen of water at her hip. "I used to do training a lot harder than that when I was with the Greil Mercenaries."

"I bet they must've had high standards."

"They did, but I always used to go above and beyond their training routines. Even still it wasn't enough…" Mia trailed off as she placed the cap back on her water.

"Enough for what?"

"Oh nothing!" Mia smiled softly, before scanning the nearby area. "Now let's see… If I remember correctly the elder's office should be around… there!" The swordswoman exclaimed as she pointed to a hut on the left side of the square. It was nearly identical to the rest of the houses in the town, except this one was much wider with a higher roof.

"So what sort of man is this elder?" Judah questioned, wondering if he was anything like the elders at his temple.

"He was rather wary towards me, must be because I'm not from the village. But you can tell he really cares about his people. I only met him once, but that's the vibe I got from him at least." Judah felt more comfortable about meeting this man now. He had felt a little apprehensive about meeting an authority figure so soon in Tellius, but at least it'd be an easy start if the first one he met was like the elders. After all, they had all been respectable leaders. They were tough, but always had the best interests of the temple at heart. Judah pained to include Elder Beril in that, but despite his personal grudge against the weasel-faced elder he was fair otherwise.

"Shall we?" Mia asked, motioning towards the office. Judah nodded and the two of them rose up from the bench. As they approached the prominent hut, a group of five men dressed in navy blue armor walked out. They were each equipped with various weapons and the man in front clutched a small bag in one hand.

"Who do you think those guys are?" Judah asked, knowing that they couldn't be soldiers since they didn't bear the mark of the Crimean knights on their equipment.

"They're probably just mercenaries. Strange, I don't know why a village like this would need them." Mia whispered as they watched the men walk away.

"Well every town needs protection right?" Judah asked, noticing a few of the men subtly threw glances at Mia.

"That's true, but Ballom is known around Crimea for having a pretty skilled militia amongst its farmers. I don't see why they'd need extra help from mercenaries." As Mia finished, the group of shady men turned the corner and disappeared from the town square.

"Their business is theirs though I guess. Come on, this guy is starting to smell." Judah commented, motioning towards Bagne as he ducked into the hut. Inside, a small man with dark, leathery skin sat on a wooden table with two bluky men standing on either side of him.

The man had a slight hunch in his back and a long pipe was tucked into the corner of his mouth. His hair was long and gray, and looked like it'd be gritty if touched. A brown band on his forehead kept the greying mop in check. His eyes immediately fell on Mia, at which he released a heavy smoke-filled sigh.

"So you're back." The small man mumbled in an uninterested drawl.

"You bet I am! You can't get rid of me that easily." Mia said with her notable pep.

"So it seems. I thought you left town last night, instead you come back with a companion…" The elder commented as he looked over Judah with a discerning eye. "Who are you?"

"Oh! Um, my name is Judah, sir." The red haired rebirth replied in a panicked bow, unsure what was the proper method of greeting this authority figure.

"Right… you can relax son I'm not going to hurt you. Doubt I even could if I tried." The elder murmured as he stretched his back, resulting a few audible pops and cracks. "Anyway, today is not a good day, so unless you're here on important business I must ask you to leave."

"Come outside and see what we've got. You can determine whether or not it's worth your attention." Mia offered, motioning out the door with her thumb. The elder stared at Mia for a moment, as if debating whether or not to actually humor her. After some deliberation he gave in however, and hopped off his table with a sigh. Without a word he and his guards walked past Mia and Judah and right out the hut.

"Well I'll be…" The elder said in a tone that showed hints of surprise. "That's Bagne alright, looks like you got him." The bandit was still lying on the makeshift stretcher motionless, barely showing signs of life. The elder asked as he crouched down beside Bagne's unconscious form. Removing his pipe from his mouth, the old man tapped the wood against the bandit's brow, causing him to groan and squirm in his bonds. "Well he ain't dead, too much to hope for I guess. He doesn't even look hurt though. Looks like he fainted though, like you scared the crap outta him." The old man's nose wrinkled when he got too close. "Literally… what'd you do to him anyway?" The elder asked, looking over his shoulder at the two youths.

"We had beaten his men, and then I guess he was so terrified of facing us alone he passed out." Judah replied with a shrug."

"Hah! Makes sense, always thought he was a coward at heart. He'd jump lone merchants traveling on that road with his men. From what I hear he'd do terrible things to them, sick bastard." With a couple cracks in his knees, the elder rose back up to his feet and motioned to the bulky men accompanying him. "Bring this scum to the jail, we'll figure out what to do with him later." The men nodded and scooped the fat bandit up by the arms with little effort, dragging him off away from the square.

"I'll be honest girl…" The elder commented as he took a few puffs from his pipe. "When you came into my office yesterday hollerin' about how you were going to hunt down Bagne I didn't think you'd pull through. Not many outsiders go out of their way to help others. Thank you." Judah couldn't help but frown at the old man's words. Though it wasn't a reality he liked to acknowledge, if there was one thing he learned from his teachings at the temple it was that people are inherently indifferent. It wasn't common for people in Tellius to put themselves or their interests at risk to help those in need.

"It was no problem; I only wish he had been a better foe." Mia replied with a degree of disappointment in her voice that made Judah chuckle.

"Well regardless, you did well." The elder fished around in the pack at his hip and removed a small bag of coins. "Here you go, this is Bagne's bounty." Mia took the bag from the man and opened it up, a quizzical look spreading across her face.

"Um, hey elder I don't want to seem ungrateful, but this doesn't look anywhere near three hundred coins."

The old man removed his pipe from his mouth and sighed with a nod. "Unfortunately that's correct. I had to dip into the bounty to pay a group of mercenaries for a more pressing concern." Judah had no doubt that was the group of blue armored men from before.

"More pressing concern? Like what?" Above the relative silence that had shrouded Ballom, a piercing roar echoed from the nearby fields, causing everyone to jump; all except the elder who just calmly puffed on his pipe.

"That."

::::::::::

Peasants were running in a frenzied panic from the fields towards the safety of the village. No one slowed down, or would give a second to say what was going on so Mia and Judah pressed on. After making it through the thick of the rush, they sprinted the distance between the square and the fields to see the town's new 'concern'. The site of concern was still a couple dozen yards away, but the two of them were still able to easily see what was going on. The site in question was a cattle pen; a majority of its livestock had escaped by trampling one of the fences in a stampede. One was not so lucky however. The odd cow out was lying in the grass in the middle of pen motionless, a huge white figure hunched over it.

"W-What the heck!" Mia managed to stammer out as the creature continued chewing on the cow. It must've figured out the two of them were there, for it raised its long neck and turned to glare at them. A rumbling growl slipped from its blood splattered snout and it spread its wings, trying to issue a threat to the pair.

"Is that… is that a white wyvern!" Judah asked in shock, surprised to see one, let alone be threatened by it. He had seen them before in person since they had a couple back at the temple, but he could tell from here that the creature was well above average size.

"Move aside!" Yelled a voice behind Judah as the five mercenaries from before charged through. "Die you big ass lizard!" The warrior in the front yelled, waving a steel axe around in front of him, apparently not afraid of the small dragon before him. The wyvern's lift off the ground was announced with another ear splitting roar, causing the mercenaries to stagger and wince. Before they had time to regain their composure, the white creature was on them.

Using its back legs, it kicked two of them hard enough to lift them off the ground before grabbing a third one in its maw. The sell-sword's shrieks could be heard even through the clamp of the creatures teeth, splatters of blood falling as it shook its prey. The warrior with the axe charged the wyvern from the side and slammed his steel into its rear haunch. The wyvern shrieked in pain, causing the corpse it had clutched in its mouth to plummet to the ground. The axe warrior didn't have much time to appreciate his accomplishment however; the wyvern retaliated by swatting him with one mighty paw, sending him sailing off to the side. The last mercenary left standing was a young man not even as old as Judah with a bow clutched tightly in his hands. He could see the man was shaking terribly, unable to properly aim the weapon at the beast.

"What are you doing! Take the shot!" the axe wielding warrior bellowed as he tried to raise himself up, but was clearly having difficulty. The white wyvern turned and peered down at the black haired youth, long lines of saliva and blood dripping from its jaws. The sight was utterly terrifying for the young mercenary, causing him to fall over onto his rear and stare up at the small dragon in horror.

"Judah! Judah!" The rebirth was snapped out of his captivated state by Mia who had already drawn her sword. "We have to help!"

Any sane person who had just witnessed that beating and was urged to join in would've called the swordswoman nuts and ran all the way back to his mum. However, something in Judah caused him to nod and draw his own blade with no complaints whatsoever. Even as the two of them charged in towards the winged beast he didn't entirely understand the drive that was pushing him forward, but he didn't have time to question it. Judah watched as the wyvern reared its head back and snapped down towards the mercenary, looking to make a finishing blow.

Mia made it first though. She had run ahead of Judah, being the much faster of the two and was able to raise her sword up in a block. The wyvern's teeth caught against the blade and an aggressive test of strength ensued. Mia winced under the force of the wyvern's press, unsure of how much longer she could hold it. Instead, she side stepped and made a passing cut along the creature's flank. The beast bellowed in anger, lifting up off the ground and began to circle above Mia. "Anyone who is still alive needs to keep your head down! Judah, Get him out of here!" She yelled motioning towards the frightened young archer. The rebirth stopped short and looked back the mercenary. "I'll be fine! Don't worry!"

After a moment more of consideration Judah nodded. He was nervous about leaving her to fight the wyvern alone, but if there was anyone here who could handle the situation, it was definitely her. "Come on! Get up!" Judah yelled as he grabbed one of the young man's hands and pulled him back up onto his feet. The mercenary was still in shock, his eyes wide beneath the bangs of his black hair, staring vacant at Judah. "Snap out of it!" Judah glanced over his shoulder and saw that the wyvern was dive bombing Mia. He could tell that she was starting to have trouble keeping up with the beast's relentless attacks. Having no choice but to speed things along, Judah slapped the archer across the face. "Wake up!"

It seemed to be enough to jar him out of it, the vacant stare disappeared and he appeared to be more attentive. "Run! Get back to the village!" The young mercenary nodded and turned tail, his tiny frame moving quickly back towards the houses. In the distance Judah saw the village militia finally mobilizing. A group of around twenty men with various weapons were running out towards them. Most of them appeared less than eager to be taking on the hulking wyvern, but surprisingly the village elder was hobbling at the center. He was waving his pipe above his head urging them on to be strong and protect Ballom. The young archer had nearly met up with them so Judah was sure he would be safe.

He then turned his attention back to the conflict behind him. Mia was still keeping her blocks up, but Judah could see that the force of the creature's attacks was beginning to take its toll on her. Mia tried her best to keep herself steady, but she was starting to sway. The white wyvern circled up through the air and dived at her once more. Feeling unable to block another blow, Mia took a chance and dived off to the side, hoping to escape the wyvern's path. She was a moment late however; the wyvern's rear paw collided with her side and caused her to tumble. Judah rushed forward; his sword gripped tightly in hand hoping he could make it in time to provide support. Believe it or not, Judah was gripped with fear. Images flashed into his head of the wyvern tearing him limb from limb as he charged forward. Strong urges were trying to tell him to turn and run for the sake of self-preservation, yet another force within him continued to spur him on and gradually took over entirely.

Mia struggled to get back up. They both knew she wasn't going to be able to get up in time; she had been hit hard and the wyvern was already circling back around. _Dammit! She's got only one chance and I'm it! _Judah knew what he had to do. It was going to hurt, it might even kill him, but it'd save her life. The militia was seconds behind Judah, they'd make it there and their numbers alone would probably scare off the wyvern. He just had to make sure she wasn't hit until then. Mia had just gotten up onto her knees when the wyvern landed beside her. Judah was still a few yards away. "Mia!"

"Judah, stay back!" The wyvern pressed a clawed foot to her sword arm and pinned her back down onto the ground. Mia tried to stifle it, but ended up crying out in pain as ruby droplets began to spill out. Despite Mia's call for him to stay away, he knew he needed to act now or Mia was dead. The beast gripped Mia's shoulder tight and began to flap its wings.

"No!" Judah yelled as he had finally closed the distance, but the wyvern was about to take off. Throwing all caution to the wind, he leapt from his sprint. Something inside him told him to do it, Judah wasn't sure what it was, but it had him land in the last place a normal person would go in this situation: the wyvern's back. Just as Judah had figured, the wyvern didn't like the decision. Panicked by the new passenger, it released Mia from its claw and allowed her to fall the short distance back to the ground. He couldn't see how she was from his position, but just knowing she was at least free from the beast's grasp made Judah feel somewhat relieved. Relief wasn't going to help him now though. The beast wasn't too happy, roaring and flapping its wings in disgust. The rebirth raised his sword and was about to stab it into the wyvern, but the white creature bucked violently. The jolt caused the sword to fly from his hand and plummet to the ground.

"Crap!" Judah exclaimed as he gripped his arms around the wyvern's neck in panic. The beast began to tumble and roll through the air, doing whatever it could to try and dislodge Judah from its back. _This sucks! This sucks! This sucks! _Judah kept screaming in his head as he felt his stomach tumble with the volatile movements. His mind was beginning to race, trying to remember anything he could about wyverns that he had learned during his studies. Nothing was coming to mind however, Judah was in too much of a panic to think clearly about wyverns, much less how to take one down by hand!

Finally, one particularly nasty buck from the wyvern loosened Judah's grip enough to lift him from the creature's back. The shock of the sudden jolt, coupled with realizing how high up he had actually flown caught Judah's voice in his throat and prevent any screams. For a moment he enjoyed the peaceful sensation of floating in mid-air, however it didn't last long though; gravity kicked in and caused Judah to plummet to the ground. He rolled and tumbled through the air as he fell, images moving quickly before his eyes. At one point, he was falling back first and got a look straight up into the sky. The wyvern was directly above him, blocking out his view of the sun. Even though he only saw the image for a second at best, it stuck particularly well to his mind. The sunshine was illuminating the wings of the creature, making them appear as a luminescent white. _White wing, huh… _Judah couldn't help but think as he continued to fall. He heard gasps and screams of shock and then finally blacked out as he slammed into something soft… and wet.

::::::::::

Judah was awoken by a rush of cold engulfing him from head to toe. The shock startled him and caused him to flail momentarily in panic. "Whoa! Easy there lad." A voice said to him as a pair of hands gripped his shoulders. Judah opened his eyes and tried to peer through blurred vision and the blinding sunshine above him. There were several villagers leaning over him, one was holding an empty bucket. As he started to orient to the situation, Judah sat up and groaned. His clothes were soaked and his bones were chilled. Locks of his dark red hair were stuck to the sides of his face.

"The… The wyvern…"

"It's alright, it's gone. It flew off after you fell."

"Ugh… What the hell happened?" Judah murmured as he raised a hand to his face. After a moment, he realized his hand felt positively slimy and pulled it away from his cheek. He gasped when he saw the dark hue of blood all over it. The villagers couldn't help but laugh at his reaction.

"Hey relax kid you're safe. Your fall was just a bit messy." One thickset man with a mustache joked. Judah looked down at his robes; the white thread had been sporadically dyed in large splotches of red.

"Is this my blood?" Judah didn't feel hurt, but then again he could just be numb from the knock out.

"Nope, we checked you over and you landed without any injury. The mess is certainly from the landing though…" The villagers all looked off to the side. Judah hesitantly looked over as well and stared at the nearby carcass of the dead cow. Its side had been torn open by the wyvern, but it looked as though something else had hit it.

"Oh… ugh…" Judah began to feel nauseous. He leaned over onto his side and started gagging and spitting into the grass. The villagers laughed again as the mustached man just patted him on the shoulder. "This is gross!"

"Not just gross, it's downright disgusting." Judah looked up and saw that the hunch backed elder was now standing with the small group. "You're lucky though. If you had missed that cow you'd have surely been killed."

"I thought I was dead for sure. Praise the fates." Realization then struck him and he shot up into a sitting position. "How are Mia and those mercenaries! Are they okay!" Judah looked past the village men to see another group of people carrying off a human shaped burlap bag. The sight made his heart sink.

"Don't worry, that's not your companion. I've yet to meet anyone who could be thrashed around in the jaws of a wyvern like that and survive… unfortunately that mercenary was not the exception." The village elder commented with another puff of smoke. "The sword girl and the others are alright though. A bit beat up, but alright. We had them hurried back to town to have their wounds treated." Judah released a sigh of relief. He tried to stand up, but sharp pains shot up through his torso. He winced in pain and clenched his teeth.

"Easy, easy, you may have survived it, but you still landed hard. We're getting a bath and a room set up for you to rest up in. Come on we'll help you." A couple men came to his side and carefully brought him up to his feet. Once Judah was stable they tried to start walking with him, but the rebirth shook his head.

"No, no thank you. I think I'll be okay." The men slowly removed their hands from his shoulders, but Judah remained firm. His ribs certainly hurt, but he felt okay to walk. With a nod from the red-head, the group began to walk back towards Ballom.

"Can you believe that? He takes on a wyvern with his bare hands for those people, fall off, nearly dies, and he just gets up and starts walking like nothing happened. That's a real hero right there." Judah heard one of the nearby villagers whisper to his friend. Such a comment would've surely made anyone swell with pride, but for some reason it just caused his head to weigh heavy and sink his heart.

::::::::::

The bath had certainly been refreshing, but the room was what caught Judah's attention. The room provided to Judah was on the third floor of the town inn and was actually rather nice. Granted he didn't have much reference, but the only other room he had ever lived in was the one back at the temple and it was much better. It was nearly double the size and it wasn't cluttered with books and the various other study materials he had to store. Despite being clean and this new and spacious dwelling, he really couldn't enjoy it. The words of that one villager were still buzzing around in his head. _That's a real hero right there._

He sat down on the foot of the bed in a clean pair of shorts and stared at the floor. _Hero he says… that's a lie. I was a coward back there. What I did wasn't my own choice. When I saw that wyvern up close, I wanted to turn and run to save myself. The hero spirit in me wouldn't allow it though… It forced me forward and made me do what a real hero would've done in that situation._ Judah sighed and rested his forehead in his hands. _It wasn't actually me who saved those people. I was brought up all my life being told that I am a hero and I would do good,… but that's not the truth of it at all. It's not me who'll save Tellius, it's the spirit that dwells inside me. I'm nothing but a vessel that carries out its will… I don't deserve that title._ "I don't deserve this…" Judah scolded angrily to himself. He got up from his bed and walked solemnly over to his pack. He was going to empty it out and store it in the nearby closet, but he had yet to muster the energy so he had just placed it next to it. He began to dig through it, but after a few moments he furrowed his brow in frustration. "Where'd I put my spare robe?"

"Rawr! I'm a wyvern!" A feminine voice shouted as a figure burst from the closet. A person donning Judah's clean robe, who was clearly too small for it, let the white cloth flow behind her like they were a pair of dragon wings.

"Fates be damned!" Judah cursed as he leapt in fright, landing with a thud on the floor a couple feet back. The hood of the robe off Mia and she began to roar with laughter.

"Did I scare you?" She asked through a big toothy grin and a mouthful of giggles.

"As silly as that was, yes you scared me!" Judah exclaimed with a hand to his bare chest, eyes wide in fright. "What in the world were you doing in my closet?"

"After the town doc patched me up I figured I'd meet you here when you were done with your bath. You took too long though, so I decided to punish you with a prank."

"Gee, how thoughtful of you. Can I have my clothes now?"

"Sure, you need to keep better track of your clothes though. If you keep losing 'em I may change your name to 'Judah the Nude'." Mia joked with a chuckle as she took the robe off and threw it to the rebirth who was now red with embarrassment. He quickly pulled the white cloth on, relieved to be in clean clothes once more. "Now if you're ready, we've got to go."

"Go? Go where exactly?" Judah asked as he finished the tie on his robe.

"To the elder's house. We're going to need more information on that wyvern if we're going to hunt it down." Judah had never felt his heart stop before, but he was pretty sure it felt something similar to this.

"What! That's insane! We barely survived fighting that thing and you want to go find it? Can you even still use your sword arm with that wound?"

"What this? It takes more than a scratch like this to put me out of commission." Mia said cheerily as she rolled her shoulder and hopped down from the closet. "But ya know, I am aching…" she took a step back and brandished her sword from its sheath. "For some pay back on that thing!" She took a practice swing in the air, but winced in pain. Her free hand flew up to her shoulder and she smiled uneasily. "And I may actually be aching as well… but that's why you're coming too! Who better to have watching my back than my arch-rival?"

"But Mia, I have to get to Melior to-."

"No buts! These people need our help! I'm sure your trading partner will understand when we tell him how we saved a village." Mia said as she moved briskly towards the door. "Get whatever you'll need together and meet me downstairs. We've got a wyvern to find!" She turned and ran down the hall towards the stairs.

Judah was left standing in the middle of his room dumbfounded and nervous. He didn't like the idea of facing the wyvern again, but he knew he had to. If it came back and hurt any more people in the village he wouldn't be able to forgive himself. There was also a selfish reason to it however; the last image of the wyvern's radiant white wings glowing in the sun had been plastered to his brain since he saw it. 'White wing' had been a phrase the oracle said during her prediction, and sure enough fate had brought him into the path of a white wyvern. It could've just been coincidence, but Judah knew better, it had to be fate's hand once again. Something about this wyvern was surely tied in with the shadow he was seeking. What it was exactly, he wasn't sure. The only way he could find out would be to go with Mia to find the creature.

Judah sighed as he picked up his sword from a nearby desk and tied it to his belt. _This could end badly… I can't let the temple down though, even if I may be scared. Dammit…_ Judah took a deep breath and tried to calm his heart rate. He then turned and ran out after her. "Wait

for me!"

::::::::::

**Firedude:** Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'm sorry it went on somewhat long, but I hope the action made up for it. Please feel free to review, ask questions, or offer criticisms.


	5. Footing

**Chapter 4: Footing**

"I can't allow that." The elder stated firmly, keeping a hand up to shield his eyes from the setting sun's glare.

"What!? Why not?" Mia demanded as she took a step towards the old man. Judah felt embarrassment set in as nearby citizens began to turn and look at the commotion. The town square was hardly the proper place to be having this argument. As much as Judah wanted to tell her to keep her voice down, Mia was too into it now and was now practically yelling at the elder. "If we knew where it was we could-."

"I said no." The elder declared sternly. "It's true you two held your own for a little while, but that thing is too powerful. We are grateful that you captured Bagne, but this is a problem in a whole different league. White wyverns are the stuff of legends, much bigger and fiercer than your average winged lizard. Forget about this and leave Ballom, continue on your journey to wherever you were going." The elder then tried to turn and walk back into his house, but Mia took another step forward.

"We can do it though! It just wore me down before, but if we can corner it in its den we'll have the advantage! You hired the mercenaries to go after it, why won't you just let us?"

The town elder stopped in his tracks and shook his head. "When you were here in town the other day, I purposely neglected to tell you for this very reason. Young warriors like yourself tend to be rash and think they can take on the world's worst problems all on their own, like you are now. I had already sent for the mercenaries, thinking they would be enough, but I was clearly wrong. The only option left is to request aid from the Crimean knights. They are the only ones suited for a task as dangerous as this."

"The knights? It will take several days for a message to reach Melior, and then even longer for them to mobilize and make it here. There's no telling what sort of damage that thing could cause in that period time." Mia protested, remaining staunch in her reasoning. "What's the difference if you send us after it in the mean time? We could save you a lot of trouble, and more importantly we could save a lot of lives! So please just give us a chance."

The old man starred at Mia for a long moment and sighed. "I've heard her yabber on this whole time, but what about you lad? Do you really think you two can stop it?" The elder asked as his gaze shifted to Judah. The rebirth was caught off guard by the sudden address and stood there silent, at a loss for words. Judah was still not crazy about the idea of going after this white wyvern. He knew deep down it was the right thing to do to help this village, but the odds of surviving such an encounter were slim. His responsibility was first and foremost to save Tellius by identifying and destroying the shadow that was coming. Judah wouldn't be able to do that so well if he was a blood splatter in a wyvern den. However, the oracle's prediction of 'A White Wing' was still hanging over his head. If there was even a remote possibility that this wyvern could be linked to the shadow in some way, he'd have to investigate.

"Well I…" Of course even still, Judah felt hard pressed to find the right words to respond with. Glancing to the side, he noticed Mia was looking at him now too. A smile had spread across her lips, illuminating her face into the cheery expression he had become used to. Something struck Judah as odd however, the smile was real. Anyone who didn't know Mia or her reputation would probably think she was just being naïve, but Judah knew better. The smile was one of confidence; she truly believed that the two of them could defeat this creature. And when Judah saw that smile, he felt that confidence surge through him too.

"We can do it. We'll save Ballom sir, you have my word."

Mia's smile grew and she gave Judah thumbs up. The elder stared sheepishly at him for a moment or so longer before turning and walking toward his house. "As I said before, I won't be the one to tell you and be responsible for sending you two to your deaths. It would weigh on my conscious terribly." Mia was about to reply, but was summarily cut off, "However, if you were to ask those mercenaries instead, they may be more willing to share the information. They took a pretty bad beating in that fight just before, so I'm sure they're looking for a couple new swords to help them finish their mission." And with that the elder disappeared into his hut.

Mia grinned in victory and placed her hands on her hips. "So all we have to do is hop on board with those mercenaries? No problem!" Mia said as she began to walk back towards the inn. "Come on Judah, their room is down the hall from ours! If we're lucky they'll still want to go after this thing as much as we do!" She began to trot briskly, no different from a child excited about going on a trip. Judah laughed at the sight, but jogged to catch up to her all the same. He still wasn't eager to take on the wyvern, but at least Mia's pep and confidence were starting to push him in that direction.

::::::::::

Sure enough, the same white bear paw that had been stenciled onto the shoulder plates of the mercenaries was on a door at the other end of their floor. "Alright looks like we're here." Mia said as she knocked on the wooden door. No answer. She knocked once more, this time punctuated with an impatient clearing of her throat. "What's taking them? Hello?" She called out as she knocked once more. Judah looked out the nearby window and noticed the sun had almost dropped under the horizon.

"Mia, it's getting late. They probably turned in early to rest up from their injuries. Maybe tomorrow we can try to-."

"Heeellllllooooooo!?" Mia, ignoring her companion, called out loudly as she banged on the door with two fists. Judah sighed heavy and massaged the bridge of his nose. _Or we can just try that I guess_.

After some more incessant knocking, heavy and hurried footsteps echoed from down the hall. "Hey! What're you doing!?" Mia and Judah turned to see four figures in dark blue armor moving briskly towards them. Judah recognized the one in the front right away by his blonde hair and the hefty axe sheathed on his back. He was the one who had led the charge on the wyvern. "This better be good! We told the staff here we didn't want to be bothered!"

"Ah hah! There you are! You're those mercenaries right? We-."

"I don't care what you're here for." The mercenary said, rudely cutting off Mia. "I'm not exactly in the mood to listen to some curious peasants. Now get out of my way before I stop feeling so nice." The mercenary grumbled as he opened the door to the room and trudged in.

"Wait boss, hold up." Spoke up someone from the rear of the group. It was the young archer Judah had saved. "I recognize these two. They're the ones who chased off the wyvern." The axe wielding merc stopped a moment and turned around in the doorway of their room to look at their two guests.

"Hm, so it is…" The warrior crossed his arms and leaned on the door frame. "You may have saved our hides, but if you're here to get a reward I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. That lizard was just lucky. It's going to pay next time."

"That's actually what we're here to talk about." Judah said, taking a couple steps forward. "We'd like to work with you on taking down the white wyvern."

"Help in exchange for a cut of our payment right? Nice try, go mooch off of someone else."

"This isn't about money." Mia defended. "This town is being harassed by that beast. If we don't do something, it's only a matter of time before it starts attacking the townspeople, not just the cattle."

"Don't make me laugh. You want to take on a rabid monster out of the goodness of your heart? Get the hell out of here." The blonde warrior shook his head and began to turn back into the room.

"W-Wait!" The young archer stammered. "Boss, maybe we should give them a shot. They risked their lives to save us before. I don't think anyone looking to make a quick buck would do something like."

"Yeah and Ashnard started a war to help the sub-humans. Don't be so stupid kid; stupid people desperate for money will do stupid things. Right Marsh?"

"I don't know Baren. I've never met a con who is crazy enough to charge a wyvern that big for some cash, no matter how desperate they are. Maybe they're being honest." suggested a thin mercenary with a green headband. "Also with Jarvis dead and the rest of us injured, I don't know how well we'll fair. We could probably use two bodies in this fight and they proved their skills before."

"You're not serious are you?" Baren grumbled as he rubbed his stubble covered jaw. "What about you Saul?" Everyone turned to the mercenary who had yet to speak; a man of tremendous height and solid build with short black hair and a complimenting goatee. With slow, lumbering steps that sounded as if the floor boards would snap under the stress of them, he approached their two visitors. He bent over and peered into Mia's eyes as if he were looking for something. Mia stared wide-eyed back into his for a few seconds before Saul turned to Judah. The quiet giant's gaze was soft, yet Judah felt as though he was under heavy scrutiny. After a few moments, he noticed the man's eyes widen briefly as if in recognition before returning to normal. The mercenary stood up and turned back to his comrades with a taciturn nod.

The mercenary leader gave a heavy sigh and shook his head. "Looks like I'm outvoted… Damn it fine, we'll let you have a shot." Mia smiled brightly in success and gave a brief cheer. Judah couldn't help but smile too, though it was more out of amusement at Mia's reaction.

"Now listen here. We're the steel paw mercenaries, I'm the leader Baren. The thin guy is my second, Marsh." The brunette with the headband shot a suggestive look to Mia, who clearly was oblivious to it. Judah had to make an effort to restrain a laugh. "The big guy is Saul, and the pipsqueak next to him is Sant." The silent giant gave a profound nod and Sant gave a shy wave.

"Great! I'm Mia, The Aspiring Lady of the Blades! And this is-"

"Judah. My name is Judah." The rebirth blurted out quickly, cutting off Mia before she had a chance to announce the rather embarrassing title she had created for him. The subtle pout she threw in his direction told Judah that she was upset she didn't get to say it.

"Fine, listen you two; We're letting you come with us, so you listen to what I have to say, follow my plans, keep your mouth shut, and this'll all go smoothly." Judah could tell already that Baren was going to be a real joy working with. "Now come on. We've got some planning to do."

::::::::::

Gazing over a map of the area, they spent the next hour in the Steel Paw's hotel room planning their next course of action. No matter what the group planned, Mia advocated to make sure no townspeople would be hurt during the battle. Baren agreed, though it wasn't out of the kindness of his heart, the elder had promised him a bonus if no villagers were injured by the creature. Therefore, the best course of action was to take the fight to the wyvern itself. Marsh had heard talk around the village that many had seen the creature come to and from a particular mountain near Ballom. Baren decided they would wake up tomorrow before dawn and investigate the mountain for any caves large enough to house the creature. Once they found it, they'd corner it in its den and slay it. Everyone seemed fine with the plan. If Mia had any objections she didn't voice them; she was too taken with the idea of fighting the wyvern at dawn to debate any other aspects of the plan. Night had fallen by the time their battle plan was fully formed. The meeting adjourned so everyone could go get sleep. Judah and Mia were to meet the Steel Paws at the Northern edge of the village at sunrise.

"So what'd you think of them?" Mia asked casually as she swung her legs out the window of their room.

"They didn't seem all that bad… their leader seems a bit edgy but the rest of them seemed alright to me. What about you? You've dealt with mercenaries before."

"They seem decent enough fighters, but a poor mercenary company. They just don't seem to click." Mia judged as she stared up at the half moon hanging over the town.

"Click? What do you mean?" Judah asked, lifting his head up from his pillow.

Mia nimbly rolled backward off the window sill and across the floor, shooting up to her feet in front of Judah's bed. "Well here's how I see it. All four of them seem skilled in their own right, but the key thing about any proper fighting group is how well they coordinate together. You saw what happened during the fight with the wyvern right? They threw caution to the wind and charged off at the thing with little strategy."

"Yeah now that you mention it… damn…" Judah realized she was absolutely right. These men were either not very well seasoned soldier or poorly led, he had a feeling it was a bit of both. Either way, the red haired youth was feeling doubts now. "Maybe it was a mistake to join them... The battle tomorrow could end up being very bloody if we don't handle this the right way. The first thing we'd have to take care of is a formation, arrow maybe. Have that big guy Saul or Baren lead the charge and then bring up the rear with-." Judah broke off when Mia started giggling. "What? What's so funny?"  
>"Oh nothing. You just reminded me of Soren for a moment there." The young rebirth blinked in surprise.<p>

"Soren? The tactician of the Greil Mercenaries you mean?"

"Yep, he used to do the same exact thing. All it took was thinking of a terrible battle formation and he'd start ranting on ways to fix it. He'd get a pinched expression on his face too, like you're doing right now." Suddenly conscious of it, Judah changed expressions and blushed, only causing Mia to laugh a bit more. "You know though, for a wine peddling monk I'm surprised you know so much on battle, especially something as complicated as tactics."

"Oh! Well warfare was something that has always interested me so I took to reading books on it when I had a chance away from distilling. I've never been on a battle field in my life though so I can't say I know too much." What Judah said was half true actually. Judah had done well at most things he did, but he particularly excelled in regards to studies on war and the art of it. In combat practice he was a good swordsman certainly, but he would still lose occasionally to stronger and better skilled rebirths like Ranco or Donal. Judah would always get his revenge though when playing strategy games like chess and dragons. He held the honor of being the best strategist in the whole temple, not just among the rebirths but better than all the priests too. In fact, one of his most cherished memories was the look upon Elder Beril's face when Judah checkmated him in a rather heated game of chess.

"Well that hobby is certainly going to be of use now. Tomorrow we'll defeat that monster and save this town from that lizard once and for all!" Mia exclaimed as she thrust her fist in the air, wincing as her shoulder tweaked in pain.

"Are you sure you'll be alright tomorrow? That was a nasty wound you got earlier."

"Yeah don't worry about me. A good night sleep and some good old warm ups at dawn 'ought to get me straightened out. I'm going to head into town for a little bit to buy some supplies, and then I'll be back. Don't wait up my white robed nemesis!" Mia called out with playful glee as she slipped through the door and out into the hallway. Judah couldn't help but smile and shake his head. He turned in his bed and gazed out his bedroom window. The mountain that was the suspected home of the white wyvern sat in ironic peace under the starry night sky. _I can't believe I've only been out of the temple for two days and I'm already up to my ears in trouble._ _This business with the wyvern could go terrible tomorrow… but something about Mia makes me feel like it's all going to work out... crazy girl._ Judah felt a small smile cross his lips as he lay back in his bed, letting his thoughts wonder as he stared up at the wood ceiling and drifted off to sleep.

::::::::::

It wasn't two hours later that Judah was startled awake by a loud crack. With his heart racing and a bead of sweat on his forehead he shot up and glanced around the room for what had disturbed him. At first he couldn't spot anything in the darkness, but then a gleam by the window caught his eye. A throwing dagger was planted firmly in sill, shining dimly in the moonlight. The meaning of the sight triggered in Judah's head and he snatched his sword out from under his bed. He was about to rip the blade from his sheath when he noticed something else… there was something tied to the handle of the dagger. With the sheathed blade in one hand, the rebirth carefully crept over to the window and inspected the knife. A folded paper had been tied to it with only one visible word on the outside, **Judah**.

Puzzled, Judah glanced behind him and noticed that Mia's bed was still empty. _Mia's not back yet… I hope everything's okay. _Carefully he worked the dagger out of the wood with his free hand and looked around outside his window. The rooftops of the surrounding buildings were void of life and there was nothing short of silence outside. Feeling a chill up his spine, the rebirth slammed the shutters closed on the window and briskly moved to the nearby desk. He nearly knocked over the lantern trying to light it, his hands shaky from a mix of apprehension and adrenaline. When the flame was finally burning, Judah untied the paper and unfolded it. Just as he assumed, it was a note.

_Dear Judah,_

_ I hope this letter not only reaches you in time, but that it's legible. I am writing in a hurry for the oracle has stressed how important it is to your success for this to make it to you fast. This morning she was struck with a clarifying vision about your earlier séance. The Oracle claims that today you will encounter a white wyvern of monstrous size and will be faced with it in combat soon. You may have already fought it by the time you get this message, but if you haven't you need to read carefully. __**The Oracle instructs that you are not to kill the Wyvern.**__ I know this is yet another burden we are placing on you, but The Oracle has seen that its fate is directed tied into yours. If the creature is to be killed, then your death will also be sealed. In fact avoid any conflict if possible, white wyverns are notorious for being the biggest and fiercest of the wyverns (as well as extremely rare) and facing it in combat may mean death as it is. I've given this letter to a reliable friend and hopefully this reaches you before it's too late. Whatever this situation might be, remember what's at stake and do what needs to be done. May fate's hands guide you my son._

_-Elder Adam_

Shock and confusion had seized Judah. He probably would have fallen from his chair if he didn't catch himself on the corner of the desk. Judah was caught in perhaps one of the most dizzying dilemmas of his life and he wasn't sure how to handle it. His fate was tied with that monster!? Judah didn't understand, but then again he didn't understand most things The Oracle had told him. Judah read the letter over again a couple more times to make sure that he had read it right. Unfortunately he had.

"No, damn it!" Judah groaned through clenched teeth. _The mercenaries are leaving tomorrow morning to hunt down the wyvern and we're to accompany them… I'm sure if we back out they won't be able to take that thing down on their own and I won't have to worry. But then again… how do I explain to Mia that suddenly we can't kill that thing. Not to mention that we'd be leaving the whole village at the mercy of that wyvern after we had given our word to the elder. That'd be breaking Adam's law, I can't leave them-._ Then the realization hit him.

The words from Adam's letters flashed through his mind.

_ Adam's Law:__To never stand idly by while an injustice is carried out…_

_In order to succeed in your mission, there will be times when you'll have to break the temple's laws…_

_Whatever this situation might be, remember what's at stake and do what needs to be done…_

Judah sat back in his chair, mouth agape staring into the flame of the lantern. "He… he wants me to forsake his law… Whether he's realizing it or not he's asking me to abandon these people and continue with the mission… I… I…" Judah felt his shoulders getting heavier and heavier. "It's one or the other isn't it… the mission or this village?"

The young rebirth clasped his hands together and bowed his head. "Fates… I've never encountered such a choice before… though I know this probably won't be the last time I'll have to make such a decision on my journey, but please… I need guidance… something!" Judah sat there for hours, silently mumbling a prayer every so often and thinking about every possible course of action. But sure enough no answer came to him and soon sleep prevailed as he slumped over on the desk.

In the depths of his sleep, Judah was plagued with racing dreams. Twisted images of the day's events flooded his head and confused him with nightmares. Bagne and his bandits stood over a defeated Mia, the savage cannibal laughing as he raised his axe over his head for one final blow. The Steel-Paw mercenaries lay slaughtered in the field outside Ballom; the wyvern's blood covered snout spreading open as it let out that terrifying roar in triumph. It then lifted off the ground and charged Ballom, tearing apart villagers with its sharp teeth and claws.

The dreams then jumped again, finding himself in Ballom's fields once more in the midst of the fight with the wyvern. Judah watched in horror as the white beast began to take off with Mia in claw. He raced across the field as he had earlier that day and launched himself onto the creatures back. The scene repeated as before, the wyvern bucking and roaring, trying to dislodge its unwanted guest. _To never stand idly by as an injustice is being carried out… _The Elder's words rang in Judah's ears as he held on for dear life, doing his best to stay on, doggedly determined to maintain his grip. _In order to succeed in your mission there'll be times where you'll have to break the temple's laws. _The wyvern finally bucked one more time and launched off rebirth as it had before. _Do what needs to be done…_ the words echoed in Judah's head as he spun down toward the earth, staring up at the bright white wings of the beast as it rose into the sky. An epiphany struck him just as he hit the ground.

The imagined impact startled him into launching up from the desk. Breathing heavy and in a cold sweat from the nightmares, Judah took a minute to collect his thoughts. "I got it…" Judah whispered to himself in disbelief. He turned and looked out the window as the first faint rays of sun light were breaking the horizon. "I got it damn it…"

::::::::::

**Firedude:** Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Not a very action packed one I know but the next one will definitely make up for it. Feel free to review with all your questions, criticisms and concerns.


End file.
